Why it works: Egg and butter match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 118,511 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the eggs
In a bowl, beat the eggs well.
Melt the butter in a pan and add the chopped parsley.
Combine the melted butter and parsley with the beaten eggs.
Season with pepper and salt.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until set and slightly golden.
Serve hot.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Egg + buttertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together118,511 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + parsleytop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together28,543 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Egg + parsleytop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together18,323 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).
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Butter + peppertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together85,512 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set into a firm, tender structure as they cook and coagulate with heat.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the eggs a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
- Parsley
- Contributes fresh, green aroma and a light herbal flavour to the eggs.
The step that matters
Bake at 400°F until set and slightly golden. Eggs turn from liquid to firm through protein coagulation; overbaking at high heat makes them dry, rubbery and tough, so check them as they reach a set texture.
“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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