Why it works: Onion and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Stuffed Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the eggs
Boil the eggs for 20 minutes.
Remove the shells and cut the eggs lengthwise.
Remove the yolks and mash them.
Fill and coat
Mix the mashed yolks with butter, onion juice, and potted or deviled ham.
Fill the egg whites with the mixture.
Smooth the filled whites.
Press the two halves together.
Spread the remaining yolk mixture on a shallow dish.
Place the filled eggs on the dish.
Cover the eggs with a thin white sauce or gravy.
Sprinkle the eggs with buttered crumbs.
Bake until the crumbs are golden brown.
Alternatively, roll each filled egg in bread crumbs and beaten egg.
Fry the rolled eggs in hot lard until golden.
Drain the eggs.
Serve
Serve hot with tomato sauce.
Garnish with parsley.
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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Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,398 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Whites form the shell that holds the filling, and yolks give the filling its body.
- Potted or deviled ham
- Adds savory flavor and salt to the mashed yolk filling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smoother, softer texture to the yolk filling.
- Buttered crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden browned coating when baked.
The step that matters
Bake or fry until the crumbs are golden. Crumbs brown through the Maillard reaction at high surface heat. Too little heat leaves them pale and soft, while overcooking dries the filling and toughens the coating.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, onion, ham, sauce, parsley):
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Leekfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, onion, ham, sauce, parsley. 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.
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