Name: Egg Flip
Ingredients: 1 bottle of Madeira or 5 tablespoons of sugar; some cinnamon; 12 cloves; a very little nutmeg; 1 pint of light wine; 1 pint of water; 6 eggs

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Egg Flip

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the Madeira or sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, light wine, and water.
Beat the eggs and add them to the mixture.
Stir well to combine all ingredients.
Chill before serving.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon + winetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,170 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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: Add body and a rich, smooth texture as they blend into the liquid.
Madeira or sugar: Provides sweetness that balances the wine and spices.
Light wine: Adds acidity and a fruity flavor to the liquid base.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, wine, egg):

Clovethe original
Allspicefits about as well
Cardamomfits about as well
Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, wine, egg. 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.