Why it works: Egg and lime are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,658 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
To Preserve Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the eggs
Coat each egg thoroughly with egg white.
Pack eggs in layers with paper between in a box and keep in a cool place.
Dip eggs in melted wax, a weak solution of gum, or flax‑seed oil to seal the shell.
Pack and cover
Pack eggs in a stone jar between two‑inch layers of salt, small end down, and cover.
Slake one pound of lime in two gallons of water, then add a pint of salt when cold.
Pour the lime mixture over the packed eggs in a jar or keg, covering them completely.
Do not move the jar until needed.
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.
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Egg + limetop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,658 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- The main food being preserved; the shell and contents change slowly over the curing period.
- Lime
- Alkaline agent that, dissolved in water, penetrates the shell and helps set the egg's contents during curing.
- Salt
- Draws moisture and helps preserve the eggs while they cure in the packing layers and brine.
The step that matters
Coating and sealing the shell. Egg white and a sealant such as wax, gum or oil close the pores of the shell, so the alkaline lime mixture enters slowly and evenly instead of unevenly or too fast.
“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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