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Scrambled Brains

Scrambled brains are a dish made by soaking brains, mixing with eggs, and cooking in drippings, served with toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Scrambled Brains

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the brains

  1. Soak the brains in salted water for 1 hour.

  2. Clean and wash the brains in clear water.

  3. Chop the brains and mix with 6 beaten eggs.

Cook and serve

  1. Scramble the mixture in hot drippings.

  2. Season with salt and cayenne pepper.

  3. Serve with toast.

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. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Brains
Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender and soft as they scramble.
Eggs
Bind the chopped brains together and set into soft, creamy curds when scrambled.
Drippings
Fry the mixture in hot fat, adding richness and savory flavor.

The step that matters

Scramble the mixture in hot drippings. Eggs set quickly and turn rubbery or dry if overheated, so the mixture should be cooked over steady, moderate heat and stirred until just set.

“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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