Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Shirred Eggs
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
Separate the desired number of eggs, keeping each yolk unbroken in its shell.
Place the egg whites in a bowl and beat until stiff, adding salt to taste.
Butter as many small baking dishes as there are eggs.
Assemble and bake
Spoon a large amount of the stiff egg white into each dish.
Carefully drop the yolks into the center of the whites.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until the whites are lightly browned.
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.
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Beaten whites form an airy, sturdy base that holds the whole yolk while the yolk stays soft and rich.
- Butter
- Coats the dishes to prevent sticking and adds richness and browning to the edges.
The step that matters
Carefully drop the yolks into the center of the whites. Yolks break easily, and a broken yolk spreads into the whites and loses the set, runny center. Stiff whites around the yolk help it stay put and hold its shape during baking.
“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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