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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: Mustard and watercress match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 293 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Deviled Eggs

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Boil and peel

  1. Boil the eggs for 15 minutes, then place them in cold water for 30 minutes.

  2. Remove the shells and cut the eggs in half lengthwise.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, mash the yolks with olive oil and mustard until smooth.

  2. Add the chopped ham, salt, and pepper; mix thoroughly.

  3. Fill the hollowed egg whites with the yolk mixture.

Serve

  1. Serve on a bed of watercress or salad.

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 + watercresstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together293 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Olive + watercresstop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together684 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + watercresstop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together983 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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 yolks become the creamy base.
Olive oil
Adds fat to the mashed yolks, making the filling smooth and rich.
Mustard
Adds sharp acidity and aroma that cut through the richness of the yolks.
Cold boiled ham
Adds savory, salty flavor and a firmer texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Cooling the boiled eggs. Boiling for 15 minutes then chilling for 30 minutes stops the cooking, which prevents a grey ring forming around the yolks and makes the shells easier to remove cleanly.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Spinachfits about as well
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Lettucefits about as well
  4. Chivefits about as well

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