Why it works: Onion and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 9,259 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Miss Clara Adams
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Cook half a can of tomatoes with half a teaspoonful of sugar for ten minutes.
Fresh tomatoes can be used, but should be cooked longer in the butter.
Make the scrambled eggs
Put two tablespoonfuls of butter into the chafing dish with one slice of onion, and cook three minutes.
Remove the onion and add the tomatoes.
When hot add six slightly beaten eggs, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a little pepper; cook until it thickens.
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.
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Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set into soft curds as they cook, giving the dish its body and texture.
- Tomatoes (in the method)
- Add moisture and acidity that balance the richness of the eggs.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness and keeps the eggs from sticking as they cook.
The step that matters
Cook the eggs until they thicken. Eggs set as their proteins coagulate with heat. Stopping too early leaves them runny, while overcooking makes them dry and rubbery, so they should be removed while still soft and glossy.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, mustard, sugar, egg, pepper):
- Horseradishbetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Chivebetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, mustard, sugar, egg, pepper. 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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