Name: Eggs Poached on Toast
Ingredients: eggs; toasted bread; slices of ham or bacon; spinach

Why it works: Bread and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Eggs Poached on Toast

Ingredients

eggs
toasted bread
slices of ham or bacon
spinach

Directions

Cut away the ragged edges of the egg white.
Bring a pot of water to a gentle simmer.
Slip the egg into the water, gathering the white to keep it in form.
Cook until the white is set but the yolk remains runny.
Serve the poached egg on toasted bread, ham, bacon, or spinach.

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.

Bread + hamtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Bread + spinachtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg + spinachtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,323 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).