Why it works: Egg and lime are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,658 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Limed Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the eggs
In April, secure fresh eggs and place them small end down in a jar.
Cover the eggs with a plate to hold them in place.
Make the solution
Mix the lime, coarse sea salt, and water in a container.
Let the solution stand overnight and stir it in the morning to remove scum.
Preserve and store
Pour the solution over the eggs.
When using the eggs, take out only what you need to avoid disturbing the rest.
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 + limetop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,658 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- The eggs are the food being preserved; they are the product of the method.
- Fresh unslacked lime
- Calcium oxide reacts with water to form an alkaline solution that helps preserve the eggs.
- Coarse sea salt
- Salt helps draw moisture and inhibits microbial growth in the preserving solution.
The step that matters
Stirring the solution in the morning. Scum forms on the surface of the lime solution as it stands. Stirring it in the morning removes scum so it does not spoil the solution or the eggs. Keep the eggs fully covered by the liquid so no part is exposed to air.
“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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