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Eqq Salad

A chilled salad of boiled eggs mixed with mayonnaise and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Eqq Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Boil the eggs for 20 minutes.

  2. Peel the shells and cut the eggs in half lengthwise.

  3. Remove the yolks and place them in a bowl.

Make the filling

  1. Cream the yolks with 2 beaten eggs, dry mustard, sweet cream, salt, pepper, olive oil, and vinegar until very thick.

  2. Fill the egg whites with the mixture.

Chill and serve

  1. Chill and serve with mayonnaise.

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. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 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

Egg yolks
Their fat and emulsifying proteins give the filling a rich, smooth body.
Sweet cream
Adds moisture and richness, loosening the yolk mixture into a spreadable filling.
Olive oil
Adds fat that makes the yolk mixture smoother and richer in texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the rich yolks.
Dry mustard
Adds a sharp, pungent flavour that cuts through the richness of the yolks.

The step that matters

Creaming the yolks until very thick. Beating the yolks with the liquids and oil builds a stable emulsion. If it is not beaten long enough, the filling stays loose and may separate, so it will not hold its shape in the egg whites.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Cucumberfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, pepper, olive, vinegar. 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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