Name: Cold Meat Broiled, with Poached Eggs
Ingredients: Sirloin of Beef or Leg of Mutton; Eggs; coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); Eschalot wine or vinegar (optional); mashed potatoes

Why it works: Beef and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Cold Meat Broiled, with Poached Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

Cut even slices of Sirloin of Beef or Leg of Mutton.
Broil the slices over a clear fire or in a Dutch oven until browned.
Keep the cooked slices warm in a dish before the fire.

Serve

Poach the eggs as directed in your preferred method.
Serve the broiled meat with poached eggs and mashed potatoes.
Optionally, add a few drops of Eschalot wine or vinegar to the sauce.

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.

Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,052 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Wine + potatotop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,207 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Beef + winetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,372 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).
Egg + potatotop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,978 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 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

Sirloin of beef or leg of mutton: Forms the main body of the dish; browning during broiling adds savoury flavour to the meat.
Eggs: Poached eggs add richness and a soft, runny yolk that combines with the meat.
Mashed potatoes: Provides a soft, starchy base that soaks up juices and balances the meat.