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Baked Potatoes and Eggs

A baked potato filled with a milk, butter, and spice mixture, topped with an egg, cheese, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓

Baked Potatoes and 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 the potatoes

  1. Bake the potatoes at 350°F (175°C) until tender.

  2. Remove the potatoes, mash them, and mix in milk, butter, salt, paprika, and nutmeg.

Fill and bake

  1. Half fill the potato shells with the mixture and place them in a baking pan.

  2. Break an egg into each potato shell.

  3. Top with grated cheese and buttered bread crumbs.

  4. Bake until golden brown and the eggs are set.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  4. Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the starchy base that holds the filling and becomes fluffy when baked and mashed.
Eggs
Set during baking to firm the filling around the yolk and add richness.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the mashed potato filling.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother texture in the mashed potato.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Baking until the eggs are just set. Egg whites set at a moderate heat while yolks stay soft if they are not overcooked. Baking too long makes the yolks dry and rubbery, so watch for set whites and check the color of the top.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, milk, butter, egg, cheese, bread):

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Thymefits less well
  4. Cinnamonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, milk, butter, egg, cheese, bread. 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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