Why it works: Sage and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,445 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Forcemeat Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Boil the eggs for 10 minutes, then place them in cold water and remove the shells.
Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and remove the yolks.
Chop the onion, sage, and parsley very finely, then season with pepper and salt.
Pound the yolks until fine, then mix in the onion and herbs.
Fill the egg whites with the mixture and put the halves back together.
Bake and serve
Enclose the eggs in thin paste and brush with egg white.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 15 minutes until the pastry is done.
Serve with vegetables and sauce.
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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Sage + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,445 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Form the main body of the dish and, mashed with herbs, the savoury filling.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the pastry, helping it turn tender and flavourful.
- Wheatmeal flour
- Forms the thin paste that encloses the eggs and sets into the crust when baked.
The step that matters
Enclosing the eggs in paste. The paste must be thin and fully sealed around the halves so it bakes evenly and the filling stays moist and contained while the crust sets.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sage, parsley, pepper, butter):
- Shallotfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sage, parsley, pepper, butter. 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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