Why it works: Butter and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 28,563 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Dropped Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Poach
Fill a pan with water and add some coarse sea salt.
Bring it to a boil.
Carefully pour in the eggs one at a time, ensuring not to break the yolks.
Using a large spoon, dip boiling water over the eggs until the whites form a skim.
Serve
Remove the eggs with a skimmer and place them on hot buttered toast.
Garnish with a little parsley.
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.
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,765 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Provide the protein that sets into a tender white around a soft yolk.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour to the hot toast the eggs rest on.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs to the water. Eggs dropped into water that is not at a full boil can spread and scatter. Lowering them in carefully, one at a time, and keeping the water boiling helps the whites set into a compact shape around the yolk, which is also less likely to break.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Capersfits about as well
- Tarragonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter. 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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