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Scalloped Eggs

A baked dish of mashed potatoes, rice, eggs, butter, and cream topped with breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 851 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. 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

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

  2. In a bowl, mix the mashed potatoes and cold boiled rice.

  3. Add the chopped hard boiled eggs, vinegar, salt, and pepper to the mixture.

  4. Stir in 2 tablespoons of melted butter.

Assemble and bake

  1. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish.

  2. Spread the bread crumbs evenly over the top.

  3. Pour the remaining melted butter and 2 tablespoons of cream over the bread crumbs.

  4. Bake until heated through and the top is a delicate brown.

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. Potato + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together851 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Provide body and richness, setting into soft pieces through the baked mixture.
Mashed potatoes
Add moisture and bulk, giving the mixture a soft, binding texture.
Cold boiled rice
Adds bulk and a light, tender texture to the baked mixture.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the crumbs brown on top.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping that browns in the oven.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the baked dish tender.

The step that matters

Bake until heated through and the top is a delicate brown. Eggs set when heated, so overbaking can make them rubbery and dry out the mixture. Pull the dish once the centre is hot and the crumbs have just browned.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Potatothe original
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, egg, vinegar, butter, bread, pepper, 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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