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Eggs, Scalloped

Baked eggs in scallop shells with ham, breadcrumbs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓

Eggs, Scalloped

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a bowl, combine the grated ham or tongue, bread crumbs, pepper, salt, parsley, and melted butter.

  3. Moisten the mixture with milk until it forms a smooth paste.

Assemble and bake

  1. Half fill scallop shells with the mixture.

  2. Carefully break an egg on top of each filled shell.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle a few bread crumbs over the eggs.

  4. Bake for 6 to 7 minutes until the eggs are set.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set to a firm custard-like texture and bind the filling as they cook.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the melted butter and milk, giving the filling body and a light texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the crumbs brown and carrying flavour through the filling.
Milk
Moistens the crumbs into a paste and keeps the filling from drying out in the oven.
Ham or tongue
Provides savoury meaty flavour and substance to the filling.

The step that matters

Carefully break an egg on top of each filled shell. Breaking the egg gently keeps the yolk intact over the filling. Eggs cook quickly at 400°F, so a precise bake time helps the whites set without overcooking the yolk.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, bread, pepper, butter, milk, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Cinnamonfits less well
  4. Thymefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, bread, pepper, butter, milk, egg. 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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