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Venetian Eggs

A savory dish of melted cheese, tomato juice, and egg yolks seasoned with onion, butter, cayenne, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Venetian Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the base

  1. Melt the butter in a chafing dish.

  2. Add the grated onion and cook for 5 minutes.

  3. Stir in the cheese cut into small pieces and cook until melted.

Finish the sauce

  1. Add the heated and strained tomato juice.

  2. Mix in the beaten egg yolks, cayenne, salt, and pepper.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + cheesetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,896 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the mixture as they set gently and add richness to the sauce.
Cheese
Melts into the sauce, giving it body, saltiness, and a rich, creamy texture.
Tomatoes
Provide the liquid base and a bright acidity that balances the rich cheese and yolks.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth mouthfeel and carries the onion's flavor into the dish.
Onion
Adds savory aroma and depth as it softens in the melted butter.

The step that matters

Mix in the beaten egg yolks. Egg yolks scramble if they meet very hot liquid too quickly. Stir them in steadily and keep the mixture hot but not boiling so they thicken smoothly.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cheese, egg, butter, 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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