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Scotch Woodcock

A savory dish of fried onion, tomatoes, eggs served on saltines.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Scotch Woodcock

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 ↓

Scotch Woodcock

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Slice the onion.

  2. Fry the sliced onion slowly in butter.

  3. Add the tomatoes.

  4. Heat the mixture thoroughly.

Finish and serve

  1. Beat the eggs.

  2. Add the beaten eggs to the mixture.

  3. Serve the mixture on saltines.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Onion + eggtop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,333 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Onion and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,333 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
Set and thicken the mixture as their proteins cook, giving it a creamy body.
Tomatoes
Add moisture, acidity and a fresh, tangy flavor that balances the richness.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and helps the onion soften and turn sweet as it fries.
Onion
Contributes aroma and, when fried slowly, a mild sweetness that deepens the flavor.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten eggs to the mixture. Egg proteins set and thicken as they heat. If the mixture is too hot when the eggs go in, they can curdle and turn grainy, so the eggs should be stirred in and cooked gently.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, egg, butter):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, egg, butter. 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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