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Scalloped Eggs

A baked dish of layered bread crumbs, boiled eggs, ham, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Scalloped Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Layer the dish

  1. In a well-buttered baking dish, layer bread or cracker crumbs.

  2. Add a layer of sliced cold boiled eggs, seasoning with salt, pepper, and bits of butter.

  3. Next, add a layer of minced ham, followed by more crumbs.

  4. Repeat the layers, finishing with crumbs on top.

Bake

  1. In a bowl, mix the milk and beaten eggs, then pour over the layers.

  2. To help the dressing penetrate, stick a knife into the mixture in several places.

  3. Bake for 15 minutes or until heated through.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + hamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cold boiled eggs
Form the main body of the dish and set into a tender filling when baked.
Milk
Provides the liquid that soaks into the crumbs and forms a moist custard.
Beaten eggs
Bind the milk into a custard that sets as the dish bakes.
Bread or cracker crumbs
Absorb the liquid and give the dish its structure and soft texture.

The step that matters

Stick a knife into the layers before pouring. Piercing the layers lets the milk and egg mixture soak down through the crumbs, so the dish bakes evenly rather than staying dry at the bottom.

“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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