Why it works: Egg and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The Cook Gets the Breakfast Beady
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the kettle and keep it boiling.
Prepare fried fish first, then cover and keep warm.
Cook fried meat in a separate pan if needed.
Warm four plates and make thin toast.
Boil the eggs and warm four egg-cups.
Make the tea and serve it in a teapot.
Place the hot dish, eggs, toast, and teapot on a tray and send it to the breakfast-parlour.
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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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + teatop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together383 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + teatop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together821 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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