Why it works: Truffle and ham work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 516 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
CEufs En Chaud-froid
Ingredients
Directions
Poach and coat the eggs
Poach the eggs carefully in slightly salted water with a little lemon juice until set. Remove the eggs, trim them, and place them on a sieve to cool.
Heat the béchamel sauce. Mix in the dissolved and strained gelatine, then season the mixture to taste and mix in a couple of tablespoons of aspic.
When nearly cold, coat half the poached eggs with the mixture. Allow the first coating to set before adding a second.
Heat the tomato sauce. Mix in an equal quantity of béchamel and some aspic jelly.
When nearly cold, coat the remaining eggs in the same manner.
Assemble and serve
Cut out rounds of tongue or ham to match the size of the eggs. Place one egg on each slice, then cover each egg with a thin layer of aspic.
Decorate with fancifully cut slices of truffle.
Arrange the eggs on a cold dish in a border shape. Fill the center with a nicely prepared salad.
Serve.
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.
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Truffle + hamtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together516 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Sauce + tomatotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,469 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Tomato + truffletop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together242 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
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Egg + truffletop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,604 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Poached eggs form the set core that each sauce coating covers.
- Béchamel sauce
- Its creamy body gives the coating richness and a smooth, opaque surface.
- Gelatine
- Setting agent that lets the sauce and aspic firm into a cold, sliceable coating.
- Aspic jelly
- Sets into a clear glaze that adds moisture and a glossy finish.
- Tomato sauce
- Adds acidity and colour to the second coating, contrasting with the white béchamel.
- Ox-tongue or ham
- Savoury base slices that support each egg and add meaty flavour.
The step that matters
Coat only when nearly cold, and let the first coat set before the second. Coating warm or hot sauce makes it run off or slide and leave thin, uneven patches. Gelatine sets as the mixture cools, so a nearly cold sauce clings, and a set first layer gives the second a firm surface to grip.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sauce, truffle, ham):
- Asparagusfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sauce, truffle, ham. 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.
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