Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
7-stuffed Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Cut the hard-boiled eggs in half lengthwise and scoop out the yolks.
Pound the yolks in a mortar.
Soak the bread in milk, squeeze it, and pound it with the yolks.
Add the same weight of butter as the yolks and mix well.
Chop the parsley and eschalots finely and add them to the mixture.
Season with pepper, salt, and a little grated nutmeg.
Beat the egg yolks and add them to the mixture, mixing well.
Press the mixture through a fine sieve.
Fill and bake
Fill the egg white halves with the mixture, piling it up.
Spread the remaining mixture in a baking dish and place the egg halves on top.
Place the dish on hot coals and cover with a pan of hot coals.
Serve very hot when nicely browned.
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 + shallottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,737 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Shallot + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,019 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Form the edible shells and whites that hold the filling.
- Bread
- Soaked in milk, it adds softness and body to the filling.
- Milk
- Moistens the bread so it blends smoothly into the filling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture to the filling.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the filling and add richness and a creamy texture.
The step that matters
Press the mixture through a fine sieve. Sieving breaks up lumps from the yolks and bread, giving a smooth, even filling that piles neatly and bakes without grainy patches.
Swap the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, bread, milk, butter, parsley, pepper, nutmeg):
- Potatofits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Shallotthe original
- Carrotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, bread, milk, butter, parsley, pepper, nutmeg. 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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