Name: Fried Eggs
Ingredients: eggs; oil; coarse sea salt; halved tomatoes; chopped shallots; cepes; fried parsley

Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Fried Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Heat oil in an omelette pan until it begins to smoke slightly.
Break an egg onto a plate, season it, and let it slide into the pan.
Quickly cover the yolk with the solidified portions of the white to keep it soft.
Drain the egg on a piece of stretched linen.
Repeat with remaining eggs.
For garnish, prepare halved tomatoes with a pinch of chopped shallots.
Place a fried egg on each garnished half tomato and arrange in a circle on a dish.
Garnish the center with sautéed cepes and fried parsley.

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.

Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,398 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Tomato + shallottop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together583 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,765 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg + shallottop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,380 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).