Skip to main content
Main

Scalloped Eggs

A baked egg dish with bread crumbs, pig's cheek, parsley, bacon, and a creamy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. 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 the crumb base

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

  2. In a bowl, mix bread crumbs with pepper, salt, gravy, and a little milk or cream.

  3. Finely mince the pig's cheek and parsley, and add to the bread mixture.

  4. If using, boil and mince the onion, then add it to the mixture.

  5. Grease a small pie dish and line the bottom with the moistened crumbs.

Make the egg layer and bake

  1. Sprinkle the parsley and chopped bacon over the crumbs.

  2. Cover the dish and place it in the oven until hot.

  3. In another bowl, beat the eggs until frothy, then mix in melted butter, cream, pepper, and salt.

  4. Pour the egg mixture gently over the bacon in the dish.

  5. Bake uncovered in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the eggs are set.

  6. Serve very hot.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a custard that holds the dish together when baked.
Bread crumbs
Form the absorbent base layer that soaks up gravy and milk.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the eggs a softer, smoother texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the eggs tender rather than dry.
Pig's cheek
Contributes savoury, fatty flavour to the crumb and egg layers.

The step that matters

Pour the egg mixture gently over the bacon. Eggs set into a delicate custard when heated gently. Pouring carefully keeps the layers distinct, and baking only until just set avoids a rubbery, curdled texture.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, pepper, milk, parsley, egg, butter, cream):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, pepper, milk, parsley, egg, butter, cream. 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.

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipesBread OmeletteBread Omelette60 recipesOatmeal BreadOatmeal Bread51 recipes