Name: Cold Meat Broiled, with Poached Eggs
Ingredients: Sirloin of Beef or Leg of Mutton; Eggs; Mashed Potatoes; Eschalot wine or vinegar (optional); Grill Sauce (optional)

Why it works: Beef and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Cold Meat Broiled, with Poached Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Cut even slices of Sirloin of Beef or Leg of Mutton.
Broil the slices over a clear fire or in a Dutch oven until browned.
Keep the slices warm while you poach the eggs.
Serve with mashed potatoes and optional sauces.

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.

Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,052 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Potato + winetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,207 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Beef + winetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,372 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).
Beef + saucetop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,650 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Potato + saucetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,073 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).