Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Poached Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place a stewpan over the fire and add water, butter, and salt.
Bring the water to a boil.
Poach and serve
Break the eggs into the boiling water.
Cook the eggs for four minutes.
Remove the eggs carefully with an egg slice.
Trim off any loose pieces and serve on spinach or toast.
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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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 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
- Eggs
- Protein that coagulates in hot water to form a set, tender white around a soft yolk.
- Butter
- Adds a small amount of fat and richness to the poaching water.
The step that matters
Break the eggs into the boiling water. Eggs held in boiling water spread and tangle if the water is too turbulent or the egg is added carelessly. Keeping the water at a gentle simmer and lowering each egg in carefully helps the white set around the yolk in a compact shape.
“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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