Name: Eggs, with Tarragon
Ingredients: eggs; fresh tarragon; butter; salt; pepper

Why it works: Tarragon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,399 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Eggs, with Tarragon

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Boil the eggs until hard, about 10 minutes.
Cool the eggs in cold water and peel them.
Chop the fresh tarragon finely.
Melt butter in a pan and add the chopped tarragon.
Add the peeled eggs to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and heat through.

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.

Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,399 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Tarragon + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,572 recipes

Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Egg + tarragontop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,789 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).