Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Noodles for Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Beat the egg in a bowl.
Gradually add flour until a stiff dough forms.
Roll the dough out into a thin sheet.
Shape the noodles
Flour the sheet and roll it up tightly.
Cut the rolled dough into shavings about ⅛ inch wide.
Flour the shavings to prevent sticking.
Cook
Add the noodles to boiling soup and cook for 10 minutes.
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.
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Egg
- Binds the flour into a cohesive dough and adds richness to the noodles.
- Flour
- Provides structure, forming the gluten network that gives the dough its stiffness and chew.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until a stiff dough forms. Adding flour gradually lets you judge how much the egg can absorb. Too little flour leaves a sticky dough that tears, while too much makes the noodles tough and dry.
“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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