Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Stuffed Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Boil six eggs hard.
Cut the eggs in half lengthwise.
Take out the yolks and mash them very fine.
Put aside a heaping teaspoonful of the mashed yolks.
Add the remaining yolks to two teaspoonfuls of butter, three teaspoonfuls of rich cream, a few drops of onion juice, salt, and pepper to taste. Mix well.
Fill the egg whites with the yolk mixture, rounding the top of each to the size of a whole egg.
Make the sauce
Make a white sauce: rub a heaping tablespoonful of butter into half a tablespoonful of flour.
Stir in a cup of boiling milk until smooth and thick.
Finish and serve
When the sauce is smooth and thick, put the eggs into it carefully.
When hot, take the eggs out.
Arrange the eggs daintily on a platter.
Pour the sauce around the eggs.
Sprinkle the reserved teaspoonful of yolk over them.
Garnish with parsley and serve.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Yolks make the creamy filling, and the whites hold it as the stuffed shell.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the yolk filling and the white sauce.
- Flour
- Its starch thickens the milk into a smooth white sauce.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the white sauce, which thickens as it heats.
- Rich cream
- Adds moisture and a smoother, softer texture to the yolk filling.
The step that matters
Stirring the boiling milk into the flour and butter. Flour starch thickens the sauce only when it is evenly dispersed. Adding the milk too fast or without stirring forms lumps, so stir steadily until the sauce is smooth and thick.
“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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