Skip to main content
Main

Eggs in a Nest

A dish of boiled eggs arranged in a nest with yolk balls, sliced whites mixed with shredded protein, topped with thick white sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Olive and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,649 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Eggs in a Nest

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the eggs for 20 minutes, then remove the shells.

  2. Carefully separate the yolks without breaking them, or rub them into a smooth paste with a little olive oil.

  3. Shape the yolks into small balls.

  4. Cut the egg whites into thin narrow slices.

  5. Mix the egg whites with an equal quantity of fine shredded chicken, ham, or salmon, and the parsley.

Assemble and serve

  1. Pile the mixture on a platter in a circular or oval ring, leaving space in the center.

  2. Set the platter in a steamer to settle the mixture.

  3. Make a pint of thick white sauce and pour some around the edge of the dish, coming halfway up the nest.

  4. Serve the remaining sauce in a sauce boat.

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. Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,649 recipes

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

  2. Olive + chickentop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,888 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).

  3. Chicken + parsleytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,314 recipes

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

  4. Olive + saucetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,568 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites form the nest structure while the yolks are shaped into balls for contrast.
Olive oil
Blended with the yolks to form a smooth paste, adding richness and moisture.
Fine shredded chicken, ham, or salmon
Adds savory bulk and protein-rich texture to the mixture.
Thick white sauce
Adds moisture and creaminess around the nest, softening the dish's richness.

The step that matters

Settling the mixture in the steamer. Gentle steam warms the mixture without drying it out, helping the ring hold its shape and keeping the sliced egg whites tender rather than rubbery. Too much heat can toughen the egg whites.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, olive, chicken, sauce):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, olive, chicken, sauce. 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.

You might also like

Chicken BrothChicken Broth257 recipesChicken SoupChicken Soup156 recipesCreamed ChickenCreamed Chicken89 recipesChicken PanadaChicken Panada75 recipes