Name: Deviled Eggs
Ingredients: 6 hard-boiled eggs; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 tablespoon tomato catsup; 1 tablespoon mushroom catsup; 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce; ¼ teaspoon dry mustard; ¼ teaspoon cayenne; Toast, for serving

Why it works: Tomato and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,719 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

Heat the butter, tomato catsup, mushroom catsup, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, and cayenne in a pan.
Cut the hard-boiled eggs lengthwise into quarters, then slice across into smaller pieces.
Add the egg pieces to the pan and heat until warmed through.

Serve

Serve the mixture on buttered toast or toast spread with anchovy paste.

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.

Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,719 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Tomato + mustardtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,482 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Sauce + mustardtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,120 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together15,338 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Hard-boiled eggs: Form the main body of the mixture, providing protein and a soft, tender texture.
Butter: Adds richness and a smooth, moist texture to the warmed filling.
Tomato catsup: Contributes sweetness and acidity, giving the filling its savoury-tangy flavour.
Mushroom catsup: Adds deep, savoury umami flavour to the filling.
Worcestershire sauce: Adds savoury, tangy depth that rounds out the seasoning.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, tomato, mushroom, sauce):

Capsicumfits better
Asparagusfits better
Shallotfits better
Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, tomato, mushroom, sauce. 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.