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Scallop with Eggs

A baked casserole of veal or lamb, crackers, butter, and eggs.

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 ↓

Scallop with 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 dish

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

  2. Butter a shallow baking dish.

Layer and season

  1. Layer 1 cup of crackers or bread crumbs in the bottom.

  2. Add a layer of 1 cup of chopped cold veal or lamb.

  3. Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and bits of butter.

  4. Moisten with gravy, milk, or cream.

  5. Top with another layer of 1 cup of crackers or bread crumbs.

  6. Cover and bake until the gravy bubbles up through the surface.

Add eggs and bake

  1. Remove the cover and crack 4 eggs on top to cover.

  2. Season the eggs with pepper, coarse sea salt, and a bit of butter.

  3. Bake until the egg whites are well set.

  4. Serve in the baking dish.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a firm custard-like topping that holds the dish together.
Cold veal or lamb
Provides the meaty core of the dish, adding savory flavor and richness.
Crackers or bread crumbs
Form the layers that soak up moisture and give the dish body.
Gravy, milk, or cream
Moistens the layers and carries heat so the dish stays tender.

The step that matters

Bake until the egg whites are well set. Egg whites set at around 160°F (70°C) and stay runny if underbaked, so the topping may not firm up. Check that the whites are opaque and no longer jiggle before serving.

“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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