Why it works: Egg and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Baked Eggs. — No. 7.
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Pour the gravy into a shallow baking dish.
Bake the eggs
Break the eggs into the gravy, then season with pepper and salt.
Strew the breadcrumbs over the eggs.
Bake for five minutes until set.
Serve
Carefully lift the eggs one by one and place them on the toast arranged on a hot flat dish.
Add a little cream and finely chopped parsley and onion to the remaining gravy in the baking dish.
Boil the gravy quickly and pour it over the eggs.
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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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Veal + breadtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,056 recipes
Shared aroma: cis-3-hexenol (green, grassy).
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Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + vealtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,845 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set to a firm, tender structure as they bake in the hot gravy.
- Gravy
- Provides moisture and savoury flavour, keeping the eggs from drying as they bake.
- Breadcrumbs
- Add a light crust and some browning on top of the baked eggs.
- Toast or fried bread
- Gives a crisp, absorbent base that holds the eggs and soaks up gravy.
The step that matters
Bake for five minutes until set. Eggs continue to firm after leaving the oven, so pulling them once the whites are just set keeps the yolks runny and avoids rubbery whites.
“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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