Name: Stuffed Eggs
Ingredients: 6 hard boiled eggs; 2 tablespoons butter; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); 2 tablespoons chopped cucumber

Why it works: Pepper and cucumber are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,991 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stuffed Eggs

Ingredients

6 hard boiled eggs
2 tablespoons butter
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')
2 tablespoons chopped cucumber

Directions

Prepare

Remove the shells from the hard boiled eggs and cut them lengthwise.
Carefully remove the yolks and mash them thoroughly.

Fill and wrap

Season the yolks with butter, pepper, salt, and chopped cucumber.
Fill the egg cavities with the yolk mixture and put the halves back together.
Roll each egg in white tissue paper, twisting the ends.

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.

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.

Pepper + cucumbertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,991 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Egg + cucumbertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,346 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + cucumbertop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,185 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks: Form the creamy filling that gives the stuffed eggs their rich texture.
Butter: Adds fat that makes the yolk filling smooth and rich.
Cucumber: Adds a fresh, mild crunch and moisture to the yolk mixture.