Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 104,138 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
Poach the eggs as needed.
Slice the toast with a cake cutter to match the size of the eggs.
Make the sauce
In a double boiler, combine the broth, strained tomatoes, grated onion, butter, salt, pepper, and mushrooms.
Boil the sauce slowly for 1 hour.
Add the browned flour and boil for an additional 20 minutes.
Stir in sherry to taste and pour the sauce over the poached eggs on toast.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Egg + flourtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together104,138 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mushroom + sherrytop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,176 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
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Mushroom + winetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,509 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).
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Mushroom + tomatotop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,718 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + tomatotop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,913 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Egg and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 104,138 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Poached eggs form the main body of the dish and provide richness when broken into the sauce.
- Flour
- Browned flour thickens the sauce as it simmers, giving it body and a deeper colour.
- Mushrooms
- Contribute earthy flavour and a tender texture to the sauce.
- Sherry wine
- Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the sauce, stirred in at the end.
- Broth
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, carrying the other flavours.
The step that matters
Add the browned flour and boil for an additional 20 minutes. Flour must be cooked for a while to thicken properly and lose its raw, pasty taste. Stirring it in smoothly without lumps, and keeping the sauce at a steady simmer, helps it thicken evenly.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, mushroom, sherry, wine, flour, pepper, tomato):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Asparagusbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, mushroom, sherry, wine, flour, pepper, tomato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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