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Carmelite Eggs

Baked eggs served over a spinach and herb puree.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Spinach and asparagus match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 274 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

Carmelite Eggs

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the puree

  1. Boil spinach, asparagus tips, or any other vegetable with herbs and seasoning to make a puree.

  2. Mix the puree with 1 cup of cream and press it through a sieve.

Bake

  1. Pour the puree into a well-buttered baking dish and smooth the surface.

  2. Carefully break 4 to 6 eggs over the puree.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until the eggs are set.

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. Spinach + asparagustop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together274 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Spinach + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  4. Asparagus + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 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

Spinach
Forms the green puree base and adds moisture and body to the bake.
Eggs
Set during baking to bind the puree into a firm, sliceable custard.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, giving the puree a smoother, softer texture.
Butter
Greases the dish and adds fat and flavor to the bottom and edges.

The step that matters

Bake until the eggs are set. Egg proteins firm up as they heat, so stopping at the right point keeps the custard tender. Overbaking makes the eggs tough, rubbery, and prone to weeping liquid.

Swap the spinach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, cream, butter, egg):

  1. Leekfits about as well
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Spinachthe original
  4. Potatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, cream, butter, 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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