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Stuffed Eggs

Hard‑boiled eggs filled with a seasoned yolk mixture of ham or veal, mustard, and pickles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stuffed Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Boil the eggs hard and let them cool.

  2. Cut off a small piece from one end of each egg and remove the yolks.

Fill and serve

  1. Mash the yolks and mix with chopped ham or veal, mustard, and pickles.

  2. Season with salt and pepper, then fill the egg whites with the mixture.

  3. Replace the cut piece of egg white to 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. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

  4. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

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

  5. Egg + mustardtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,210 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites provide the structure that holds the filling, and cooked yolks become the creamy base.
Mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavour that cuts through the richness of the yolks.
Pickles
Add acidity and a crunchy, sweet-sour note to the rich filling.
Ham or veal
Adds savoury, meaty flavour and some texture to the yolk mixture.

The step that matters

Boil the eggs hard and let them cool. Eggs must be fully set, with firm whites and yolks that crumble easily, so they can be cut and mashed cleanly. Cooling them completely before peeling and cutting prevents the yolks from smearing or the whites from tearing.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, ham, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, ham, pepper. 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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