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Parisienne Eggs

A layered casserole of sliced hard‑boiled eggs, tomato slices, and a cream sauce seasoned with mustard, lemon, and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By [Hayes, Emma (Allen), Mrs.], 1868- [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,037 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Parisienne Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the components

  1. Cut hard‑boiled eggs into rather thin slices.

  2. Season the slices with paprika, salt, chopped parsley, and a few drops of onion juice.

  3. Dip the seasoned slices in grated Parmesan cheese.

  4. Prepare the sauce by mixing 2 cups heavy cream, 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, a dash of cayenne pepper, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon each of French and English mustard, and the juice of one lemon.

Assemble the dish

  1. Butter a baking dish well.

  2. Line the dish with sliced tomatoes seasoned the same as the eggs.

  3. Cover the tomatoes with a cream sauce.

  4. Layer the sliced eggs over the sauce.

  5. Add another layer of sauce.

  6. Repeat layering eggs and sauce until the dish is filled.

  7. Make the last layer of sauce ornamental by forcing it through a tube.

  8. Garnish the dish with potato balls around it.

Bake and serve

  1. Set the assembled dish in the stove to heat and brown.

By [Hayes, Emma (Allen), Mrs.], 1868- [from old catalog]. 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,047 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs (in the method)
Form the sliced layers that give the dish its body and structure.
Heavy cream
Forms the rich sauce that moistens the layers and sets as it heats.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor and helps the top brown when heated.
Mustard
Adds sharp acidity and pungency that balances the rich cream sauce.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich cream sauce.

The step that matters

Forcing the last layer of sauce through a tube. Cream sauce that is too thin or cold will run and blur the piped pattern. Keeping it thick and at a workable temperature lets it hold its shape and brown evenly in the oven.

Flavor stand-ins for the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, pepper, cheese, lemon, parsley):

  1. Spinachbetter flavor fit
  2. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  3. Potatoabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, pepper, cheese, lemon, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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