Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,232 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Eggs, Au Gratin, for Lent
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
Peel and slice the hard-boiled eggs.
Arrange them in a deep dish in close circular rows.
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the egg yolks, grated cheese, and sweet milk.
Stir the mixture over low heat until it thickens.
Assemble and bake
Pour the sauce over the arranged eggs.
Sprinkle bread crumbs on top.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 10 minutes until hot.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Form the main body of the dish, providing substance and a firm, sliced texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the sauce as they set with gentle heat, giving it a smooth, rich body.
- Grated cheese
- Adds savoury flavour and fat, and helps the sauce turn rich and cohesive.
- Sweet milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which thickens when heated with the yolks.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the sauce base.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp topping that browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Stir the sauce over low heat until it thickens. Egg yolks set when heated, so low, gentle heat and constant stirring thicken the sauce smoothly. Higher heat can curdle the yolks into grainy lumps.
“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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