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Scalloped Eggs

A baked egg dish with bread crumbs, pig's cheek, parsley, and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Scalloped Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the crumb base

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, pepper, salt, gravy, and milk or cream.

  3. Mince the pig's cheek and parsley.

  4. Add the minced pig's cheek and parsley to the mixture.

  5. If using, boil and mince the onion. Add the minced onion to the mixture.

  6. Grease a small pie dish.

  7. Line the bottom of the dish with the moistened crumbs.

Assemble and bake

  1. Sprinkle the parsley and chopped bacon over the crumbs.

  2. Cover the dish.

  3. Place the covered dish in the oven until hot.

  4. In another bowl, beat the eggs until frothy. Mix in melted butter, cream, pepper, and salt to the beaten eggs.

  5. Pour the egg mixture gently over the bacon in the dish.

  6. Bake uncovered in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the eggs are set.

  7. Serve very hot.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten eggs set during baking to form the custard that holds the dish together.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the gravy and milk to form a moist base that supports the egg layer.
Pig's cheek
Adds savoury, meaty flavour and fat to the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing to a softer, more tender set.

The step that matters

Bake until the eggs are just set. Eggs are proteins that set with heat and turn rubbery and watery if overcooked. Removing the dish once the custard firms keeps the texture tender.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, pepper, milk, parsley, egg, butter, cream):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, pepper, milk, parsley, egg, butter, cream. 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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