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 ↓
Scrambled Eggs with Olives
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the eggs
In a frying pan over boiling water, melt the butter.
Beat the eggs with the milk, then pour into the pan.
Stir in salt and pepper.
Cook while stirring occasionally until the eggs are creamy and firm.
Finish
Remove from heat and stir in the diced olives.
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.
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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Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Milk + olivetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,828 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Butter + olivetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,887 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 that give the scramble its body and structure.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, keeping the eggs tender and helping prevent sticking.
- Milk
- Adds moisture, so the eggs stay softer and creamier as they set.
- Olives
- Add salty, briny flavor and a contrast of colour and texture.
The step that matters
Cook until creamy and firm, then stop. Egg proteins set as they heat. Cooking past the creamy stage makes the curds dry and rubbery, and they keep firming after they leave the heat, so timing matters.
“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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