Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,037 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Common Egg Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the eggs
Boil the eggs hard, then cool and cut the whites and yolks separately.
Mix the whites and yolks well and place them in a hot serving dish.
Pour ½ cup of melted butter over the eggs and stir.
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, combine ¼ cup of veal gravy, 1 tablespoon of flour, and 2 tablespoons of butter.
Heat the mixture until thickened.
Add 2 teaspoons of minced parsley, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, and a pinch of cayenne to the gravy.
Stir in the mixed eggs and serve immediately.
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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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Provide the main body of the sauce, with yolks and whites giving richness and texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rich mouthfeel to both the egg mixture and the thickened gravy.
- Veal gravy
- Supplies savoury, meaty flavour and liquid that forms the base of the sauce.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the gravy and butter mixture as it heats, giving the sauce body.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich, savoury sauce.
The step that matters
Heat the gravy mixture until thickened. Flour must be cooked in the hot butter and gravy until the starch swells and thickens the liquid. Stopping too early leaves a raw, pasty taste and a thin sauce, while overheating can make it lumpy or cause the butter to separate.
“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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