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Bacon Toast

A toasted French loaf topped with bacon, eggs, and served with clear sauce, vinegar, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Bacon Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the loaf

  1. Cut off the ends of the stale French loaf.

  2. Lard the middle of the loaf with streaked bacon.

  3. Slice the loaf into ¼ inch thick pieces.

Cook and serve

  1. Dip the slices in eggs.

  2. Fry gently in a very hot pan until golden brown.

  3. Serve with a little clear sauce, vinegar, and pepper.

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.

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.

  1. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Sauce + vinegartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,844 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sauce + peppertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sauce and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,303 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

Stale french brick loaf
Stale bread holds its shape and absorbs the egg without falling apart when fried.
Streaked bacon
Fat from the bacon flavours the loaf and crisps as it cooks.
Eggs
Egg coats the slices, setting into a golden crust when fried.

The step that matters

Fry gently in a very hot pan. A very hot pan browns the egg coating quickly, while gentle heat lets the bacon and centre cook through without burning the outside.

“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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