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Scrambled Eggs

Scrambled eggs are beaten eggs cooked in butter with cream, parsley, and salt, served on buttered toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Beat the eggs in a bowl.

  2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat.

  3. Add the cream, parsley, and salt to the eggs and mix well.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan.

  2. Stir continuously until the mixture begins to thicken.

  3. Serve immediately on buttered toast.

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.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

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

  5. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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 into soft curds as they cook, forming the body of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and keeps the eggs from sticking and scorching in the pan.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the curds tender rather than dry.

The step that matters

Stir continuously over low heat. Egg proteins set quickly and tightly when overheated, which makes the eggs dry and grainy. Constant stirring over low heat lets the curds form gradually and stay moist and tender.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

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