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Steamed Egg

A single egg steamed in a buttered cup, optionally garnished with parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Steamed Egg

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Butter a case or cup.

  2. If desired, sprinkle chopped parsley in the case.

  3. Break the egg into the case.

Steam and serve

  1. Place the case in a saucepan with boiling water.

  2. Steam gently for 3-4 minutes until the white is just set.

  3. Serve immediately.

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. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Egg
Sets with gentle heat to form a soft, tender custard-like texture.
Butter
Adds richness and helps keep the egg from sticking to the case.

The step that matters

Steam gently until the white is just set. Egg white begins to set around 60°C and turns firm and rubbery if overheated. Gentle steam cooks the egg evenly, keeping the yolk soft and the texture delicate.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. 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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