Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Stuffed Fogs
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Boil the eggs hard, then cut them in half and remove the yolks.
Mash the yolks and mix in the minced onion, chopped parsley, pepper, and salt.
Mash the soaked bread and combine it with the yolk mixture.
Bind the mixture with the raw egg yolk and adjust seasoning to taste.
Stuff and bake
Stuff the egg halves with the mixture to resemble whole yolks.
Spread the remaining mixture in a pie pan and arrange the stuffed egg halves on top.
Brown in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 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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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Provide the whites that hold the stuffing and the yolks that form the filling base.
- Bread soaked in milk
- Adds moisture and softness, helping the filling stay tender and spreadable.
- Raw egg yolk
- Binds the filling so it holds together when stuffed and baked.
- Onion
- Adds aroma and savory flavor to the yolk mixture.
The step that matters
Bind the mixture with the raw egg yolk. Adjust seasoning only after binding, since the bread and yolks dilute and mellow flavors. The raw yolk is the binder, so it must be fully mixed in for an even, cohesive filling that holds its shape when stuffed and baked.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, parsley, pepper, bread, milk):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Potatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, parsley, pepper, bread, milk. 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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