Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Egg Scallop
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil 6 eggs hard; mash the yolks and finely chop the whites.
Chop a pint, more or less, of cold boiled ham finely.
Make the cream sauce
Melt a tablespoonful of butter, add 2 tablespoons of flour; rub together until smooth, then gradually add a pint of milk and boil until thickened.
Season with salt and cayenne.
Assemble and bake
Place in alternate layers in a bake: ham, whites, yolks, and cream sauce, ending with the cream sauce on top.
Sprinkle with buttered cracker crumbs and place in the oven to brown.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cayenne | 1 tsp (1.8g) | 6 |
| 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.
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.
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- The yolks and whites form the body and rich, custard-like texture of the dish.
- Flour
- Cooked with butter, it thickens the milk into a smooth white sauce.
- Milk (in the method)
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which sets and binds the layers when boiled.
- Ham (in the method)
- Provides the savoury, salty meat flavour and substance of the scallop.
The step that matters
Boiling the cream sauce until thickened. Flour only thickens fully when the milk reaches a boil and is stirred, so the starch swells and the sauce binds the layers instead of staying thin and runny.
“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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