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Egg Nests

Egg Nests are baked eggs served on toast with cream sauce, butter, salt, pepper, and optional bacon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,787 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Egg Nests

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the toast and eggs

  1. Have ready pretty rounds of buttered toast, one egg for each piece of toast.

  2. Separate eggs carefully, keeping yolks in shape and each in a small butter plate.

  3. Beat whites stiff with a pinch of salt.

  4. Pile on bread to form nest, leaving a place in center for the yolks.

  5. Slide the yolk into the nest of white.

  6. Season with a bit of butter, pepper and salt.

  7. Cook in oven until set.

  8. Place on toast cut to fit the shape of egg.

Bake and serve

  1. If you don't have egg shapes, break the eggs into fluted muffin rings, brushing each with melted butter.

  2. Run in oven and cook to the consistency desired.

  3. Serve on individual plates garnished with parsley. Crisp bacon is nice to serve with this.

  4. Garnish with crisp pieces of bacon and a sprig of water cress.

  5. It would be nice to put a spoon of cream sauce on each egg.

Baked eggs in a dish

  1. Break one half dozen eggs into a baking dish, sprinkle with cheese.

  2. Pour over 1 cup cream sauce.

  3. Sprinkle top with buttered bread crumbs, sprinkle again with cheese.

  4. Cook for twenty minutes.

Cup-poached eggs

  1. Break one egg into a porcelain cup.

  2. Pour over enough boiling water to cover well.

  3. Let stand covered until white is set.

  4. Drain off water and serve seasoned to taste — in cup or slide on buttered toasted squares of bread.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

135Calories
7 gProtein
11 gFat
2 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saucenot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

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

By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924). 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. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Sauce + peppertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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
Set to form the main body of each dish, with whites providing structure and yolks richness.
Bread (in the method)
Provides a crisp base and a holder that keeps the eggs in shape.
Cream sauce
Adds moisture and a creamy, rich coating over the set eggs.
Cheese (in the method)
Melts and browns on top, adding savoury flavour and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Separating the eggs carefully. Any broken yolk or trace of yolk in the whites prevents them from whipping to stiff peaks, and the whites hold the nest shape during baking.

“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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