Name: Eggs À LA Caracas
Ingredients: 2 ozs. smoked dried beef; 1 cup tomatoes; ¼ cup grated cheese; Few drops onion juice; Few grains cinnamon; Few grains cayenne; 2 tablespoons butter; 3 eggs

Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Eggs À LA Caracas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

Pick over beef and chop finely.
Add tomatoes, cheese, onion juice, cinnamon, and cayenne.

Cook the eggs

Melt butter.
Add mixture to butter.
When heated, add eggs well beaten.
Cook until eggs are of creamy consistency, stirring and scraping from bottom of pan.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

621Calories

42 gProtein

42 gFat

19 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6

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

By Fannie Merritt Farmer. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,448 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Tomato + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,348 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Set into a soft, creamy curd when stirred over gentle heat.
Smoked dried beef: Adds salty, smoky meat flavor to the eggs.
Tomatoes: Add moisture and a mild acidity that balances the rich eggs and butter.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and helps keep the eggs tender and glossy.
Grated cheese: Adds savory depth and helps the mixture bind as it melts.

The step that matters

Cook until eggs are of creamy consistency, stirring and scraping from bottom of pan.. Eggs turn from creamy to dry and rubbery quickly when overcooked. Constant stirring keeps curds small and soft, and scraping the bottom prevents sticking and scorching.

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, tomato, cheese, onion, butter, egg):

Garlicfits better
Thymefits better
Parsleyfits better
Cinnamonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, tomato, cheese, onion, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Roast Beef211 recipes

Beef Loaf175 recipes

Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Eggs À LA Caracas