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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) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the eggs

  1. Boil the eggs for 20 minutes.

  2. Let them cool, then cut them lengthwise.

  3. Remove the yolks and place them in a bowl.

Make the filling

  1. Add salt, pepper, vinegar, and sugar to the yolks.

  2. Mix in the finely chopped celery and whipped cream.

  3. Fill the egg whites with the yolk mixture.

Serve

  1. Garnish the platter and serve.

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 + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Vinegar + celerytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,627 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Their fat and emulsifying proteins give the filling a smooth, rich texture.
Whipped cream
Adds air and fat, making the yolk filling lighter and creamier.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich yolk flavour.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and rounds out the flavour.
Celery
Adds a crisp texture and fresh, slightly savoury flavour to the filling.

The step that matters

Fill the egg whites with the yolk mixture. Cooking eggs for too long causes a greyish ring and a dry, crumbly yolk. Gentle boiling and prompt cooling keep the yolks creamy and easy to mash smooth.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, vinegar, sugar, cream):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, vinegar, sugar, 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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