Name: Egg Dice
Ingredients: 2 eggs; 2 tablespoons milk; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Egg Dice

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
¼ teaspoon salt

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard

Beat the eggs in a bowl.
Add the milk and salt, and mix well.
Pour the mixture into a buttered cup.

Bake, cool and cut

Place the cup in a pan of warm water.
Cook in a 300°F (150°C) oven until firm in the center.
Remove from the oven and let cool.
Cut into dice.

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.

Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Their proteins set when heated, giving the mixture its firm, sliceable structure.
Milk: Adds moisture and softness, keeping the set egg tender rather than dry.

The step that matters

Cook in a 300°F (150°C) oven until firm in the center. Egg proteins set gently at low heat. Cooking too hot, or past firm, tightens the proteins further, making the custard rubbery, watery, or curdled. The warm water bath helps moderate the heat around the cup.

“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.