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Scalloped Eggs

Scalloped eggs are baked eggs with a ham and breadcrumb mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. Make a force-meat by mixing chopped ham, bread crumbs, pepper, salt, parsley, and melted butter.

  2. Moisten the mixture with milk to form a soft paste.

Fill and bake

  1. Half fill patty pans or scallop shells with the mixture.

  2. Carefully break an egg on top of each filled shell.

  3. Dust with pepper and salt, then sprinkle finely powdered crackers over the top.

  4. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until the eggs are set, about 8 minutes.

  5. Serve 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  5. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set when baked, forming the soft centre that gives each portion its structure.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the milk and butter to bind the filling into a soft, spoonable paste.
Ham
Adds savoury flavour and body to the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the filling a tender texture.
Milk
Moistens the crumbs so the filling holds together without drying out.
Finely powdered crackers
Sprinkled on top, they add a crisp, savoury topping that browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Bake until the eggs are just set. Eggs turn firm and rubbery when overcooked, while undercooked whites stay runny. Watching the eggs rather than only the clock keeps the yolks soft and the whites tender.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, bread, pepper, butter, milk, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Cinnamonfits less well
  4. Thymefits less well

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