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Deviled Eggs. No. 1

Hard‑boiled eggs filled with a seasoned yolk mixture, served cold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Deviled Eggs. No. 1

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Boil the eggs until hard. Shell and cut in halves lengthwise.

  2. Remove the yolks, mash them smooth, and season with paprika, salt, and dry mustard if desired.

Fill and serve

  1. Moisten the yolk mixture with melted butter and cream.

  2. Refill the egg whites with the yolk mixture and serve cold.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Mustard + buttertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,003 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Mustard + creamtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,935 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Egg yolks
Form the creamy filling that fills the egg whites.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, making the yolk filling smoother and silkier.
Cream
Adds moisture, loosening the yolk mixture so it spreads and fills smoothly.
Dry mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavor that balances the richness of the yolks.

The step that matters

Mash the yolks smooth before seasoning. Lumps of yolk stay grainy and do not blend with the butter and cream. Mashing them fully before adding liquid gives an even, smooth filling.

Swap the mustard

The recipe marks mustard as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, cream):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, cream. 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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