Why it works: Egg and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and 22,662 recipes mention both. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Egg Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Beat the egg yolks slightly and mix in the cream.
Heat the stock nearly to boiling point.
Make the soup
Add the egg and cream mixture to the stock, stirring gently by the side of the fire until the soup thickens.
Do not allow the soup to boil to prevent curdling.
Season with salt and pepper, and serve with croutons.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Cream + breadtop 24% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together5,789 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream and pepper share little aroma chemistry, yet 21,449 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the soup as they set gently in the warm stock, giving it body and richness.
- Cream
- Adds richness and smooth texture, and mellows the egg yolks as they join the stock.
- White stock
- Forms the liquid base of the soup, carrying the flavour of the dish.
The step that matters
Keep the soup below boiling when the egg mixture goes in. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat. If the soup boils, the proteins tighten and curdle, leaving a grainy texture instead of a smooth, thickened soup.
“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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