Name: Salad Eggs
Ingredients: half teaspoonful of made mustard; a tablespoonful of melted butter; a teaspoonful of salt; two length- wise; two whites of each egg together; salt; mustard; vinegar

Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Salad Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Boil and cut the eggs

Boil a dozen eggs for twenty minutes.
Cut the eggs lengthwise.
Separate the yolks from the whites.

Make the filling

Mash the yolks.
Add a tablespoonful of melted butter to the yolks.
Add half a teaspoonful of salt to the yolks.
Add half a teaspoonful of mustard to the yolks.
Moisten the mixture with vinegar.
Form the mixture into balls the size of an egg yolk.
Optionally, add chopped pickle, ham, or finely minced chicken to the yolk filling.

Fill and serve

Place one ball in each half of an egg white; or if preferred, fill evenly and place the two whites of each egg together.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

186Calories

7 gProtein

17 gFat

1 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 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.

By Shutt, William E., Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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.

Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Mustard + buttertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,003 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,513 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Mustard + eggtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,210 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks: Mashed into a rich, creamy base that gives the filling its body and colour.
Melted butter: Adds fat that makes the yolk filling smooth and rich in texture.
Mustard: Adds sharp, pungent flavour that balances the richness of the yolks.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and moistens the yolk mixture.