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 ↓
Bacon Egg-cap
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the bacon
Slowly stew the bacon slices, turning them frequently.
Remove the bacon and add the stock to the grease.
Cook the eggs
Break the eggs over the stock and add the bacon slices back in.
Season with pepper and salt, then cook over low heat.
Use a red hot poker to scorch the top.
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.
-
Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Bacon
- Renders fat that cooks the eggs and adds savory, salty flavor.
- Eggs
- Set into the custard-like body that holds the dish together.
- Stock
- Adds moisture and savory flavor, loosening the eggs as they cook.
The step that matters
Cook over low heat. Eggs proteins set gently at low heat; high heat makes them tough, rubbery and prone to curdling, so the dish stays tender.
“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
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.