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Deviled Eggs

Deviled Eggs are hard‑boiled eggs filled with a seasoned yolk mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Drop the hard-boiled eggs into cold water immediately after boiling.

  2. Peel and cut the eggs in half without breaking the whites.

Make the filling

  1. Remove the yolks and mash them with olive oil until smooth.

  2. Add chopped mushrooms and parsley, then flavor with lemon juice.

  3. Heat the mixture and mix well.

Fill and serve

  1. Stuff the egg whites with the yolk mixture.

  2. Garnish with lettuce or watercress and serve.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Olive + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,649 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Olive + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,571 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks give the filling its richness and body, while the whites form the serving cups.
Olive oil
Fat that helps mash the yolks into a smooth, spreadable filling.
Mushrooms
Add earthy savoriness and moisture to the yolk filling.
Lemon juice
Acidity brightens the rich yolks and balances the fat.
Parsley
Adds fresh, herbal aroma to the filling.

The step that matters

Cut the eggs in half without breaking the whites. The egg whites form the cups that hold the filling, so a torn white leaks yolk mixture and makes the halves hard to fill neatly. Cooling the boiled eggs quickly in cold water firms the whites and helps them peel cleanly, which makes a clean cut easier.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, olive, mushroom, parsley, lemon):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, olive, mushroom, parsley, lemon. 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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