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Breakfast

A simple breakfast of a boiled egg, white fish or bacon, a light savory omelette, toast with butter, and weak tea or coffee with milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Fish and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,668 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Breakfast

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil the egg lightly.

  2. Prepare a small piece of white fish or bacon, or make a light savory omelette.

  3. Serve with toast or bread and butter.

  4. Brew a cup of weak tea or coffee and add milk.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Bread + teatop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together383 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Fish + teatop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together72 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Egg + fishtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,782 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg
Heat sets the proteins, so a short boil firms the white while the yolk stays soft.
White fish
Its delicate protein sets gently when cooked, giving a light, flaky texture.
Bacon
Its fat renders and browns, adding savory flavor and crispness.
Toast or bread and butter
Toasted bread adds crunch, and butter adds fat and richness.
Milk
Milk proteins soften the bitterness of tea or coffee and add creaminess.

The step that matters

Boil the egg lightly. Egg white begins to set at moderate heat, while the yolk thickens more slowly. A short boil keeps the yolk soft and runny, so timing decides whether the egg is lightly cooked or overdone.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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