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Deviled Eggs

Hard‑boiled eggs are sliced, yolks mixed with butter, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and returned to whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil about 8 eggs for 1 hour.

  2. Cut each egg in half.

  3. Put all the yolks in a dish.

Make the filling

  1. Add a little salt and pepper.

  2. Add 1 teaspoon of melted butter or olive oil.

  3. Add juice of 1 lemon.

  4. With the blade of a knife, work the mixture into a paste.

Assemble and serve

  1. Fill each egg white half with the yolk mixture.

  2. Put the halves together.

  3. Serve on lettuce leaves.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

198Calories
7 gProtein
17 gFat
6 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
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.

By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.). 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. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Egg and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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
Provide the whites that hold the filling and the rich yolks that form the paste.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, making the yolk mixture smoother and creamier.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich yolk filling and balances its flavour.

The step that matters

Work the yolks into a paste. Yolks must be mashed fully smooth before filling; lumps leave pockets of dry yolk and an uneven texture. Adding the butter or oil first helps the mixture blend into a creamy paste.

“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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