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Dainty Eggs

A breakfast dish of toasted bread topped with beaten egg white and a whole yolk set in the oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 23,333 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Dainty Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Make the toast cups

  1. Take round slices of bread.

  2. Toast them delicately.

  3. Butter them.

  4. Dip them lightly in hot water.

  5. Spread the white of an egg beaten stiff with a speck of salt on each round.

  6. Make a depression in the center.

  7. Place a whole yolk in the depression.

  8. Set it in the oven just long enough to set the yolk and brown the white a trifle.

  9. Place on a platter.

  10. Garnish with parsley.

Make the chile sauce

  1. Fry two slices of bacon.

  2. Fry one onion and one-half can green chile with bacon.

  3. Add one can tomatoes.

  4. Add salt to taste.

  5. Let cook until onion is tender, which takes about half an hour.

  6. Add more chile if not hot enough to suit taste.

Prepare the eggs and serve

  1. Boil one-half dozen eggs hard.

  2. Remove shells and cut in halves.

  3. Place eggs in a deep dish.

  4. Pour chile mixture over the eggs.

  5. Serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

165Calories
10 gProtein
9 gFat
11 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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. See the original page.

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. Onion + eggtop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,333 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Onion and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,333 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites bind the spread and set in the oven, while yolks provide richness and a firm centre.
Bacon
Its rendered fat cooks the onion and chile, adding savory flavour to the sauce.
Onion
Softens as it cooks, adding sweetness and body to the chile sauce.
Green chile (in the method)
Provides the heat and pepper flavour that defines the sauce.
Tomatoes (in the method)
Add acidity and liquid that blend with the chile into a sauce.

The step that matters

Setting the egg yolk in the oven. Leaving the yolk in too long cooks it fully and dries it out, while too little heat leaves the white raw. A brief bake sets the white and keeps the yolk soft.

“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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