Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Egg Balls
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Pound the yolks of the eggs and mix in a raw yolk.
Add pepper, salt, nutmeg, parsley, and savoury herbs.
Shape and cook
Roll the mixture into small balls, about the size of a marble.
Dust the balls with flour and drop them into boiling water.
Cook until set, ensuring the balls are small to prevent splitting.
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.
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Bind the mixture and set into a tender, rich ball when cooked.
- Flour
- Dusted on the outside to help the balls keep their shape in the water.
- Parsley
- Adds fresh, green aroma and a little brightness to the balls.
The step that matters
Cook until set, keeping the balls small. Small balls heat through evenly and set firmly before the outside breaks down. Large balls can cook unevenly on the outside and split in boiling water, so the size of each ball matters as much as the cooking time.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, parsley, flour):
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Dillfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, parsley, flour. 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.
More egg balls recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.