Why it works: Parsley and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,563 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Poached Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Poach the eggs
Fill a saucepan with water and add salt and vinegar.
Bring the water to a gentle simmer.
Crack the eggs into the water and poach for 3-4 minutes until the whites are set.
Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and place them on fried bread.
Finish and serve
Pour melted butter or sauce over the poached eggs.
Garnish with herbs if desired.
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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Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,563 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Vinegar + tarragontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,547 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Provide the main body of the dish; the whites set around the yolk during poaching.
- Vinegar
- Helps the egg whites coagulate quickly and hold a compact shape in the water.
- Melted butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel over the warm eggs.
The step that matters
Bring the water to a gentle simmer. A rolling boil tears the whites apart before they set, while a gentle simmer lets the whites firm slowly around the yolk. Keeping the water barely moving gives an intact, rounded egg.
Swap the tarragon
The recipe marks tarragon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, bread, butter, parsley, sauce):
- Capersfits about as well
- Tarragonthe original
- Nutmegfits less well
- Thymefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, bread, butter, parsley, sauce. 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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