Why it works: Egg and lime are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,658 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
To Preserve Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the eggs
Select fresh eggs.
Prepare a kettle of hot water.
Place eggs in a wire basket and dip them in and out of the boiling water three times to seal the shells.
Let the eggs dry.
Preserve
Pack the eggs small end down in coarse salt, layering salt between them.
For an alternative method, mix 6 quarts of water with 1 heaping pint of salt and 1 scant pint of lime.
Carefully drop fresh eggs into the mixture and let it stand for several days, stirring occasionally before using.
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 + limetop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,658 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh eggs
- The main ingredient, whose shells and whites are transformed during the long salt curing.
- Coarse salt
- Draws water out of the eggs and preserves them by inhibiting spoilage.
- Lime
- Raises the alkalinity of the brine, which helps set the egg white and firm the texture.
The step that matters
Dipping the eggs in boiling water. Brief dipping seals the shell so salt and brine penetrate evenly without cracking the eggs; too long and the eggs may cook inside.
“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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