Why it works: Egg and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,765 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Eggs a LA Goldenrod
Ingredients
Directions
Make the topping
Chop the whites of the eggs and add them to the white sauce.
Reheat the mixture and pour it over the toast.
Finish and serve
Press the yolks through a sieve and sprinkle them over the top.
Garnish with toast points and parsley.
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.
-
Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,765 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Sauce + parsleytop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,693 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Egg + saucetop 39% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,895 recipes
Egg and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,895 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hard-cooked eggs
- Provide the chopped whites for body and the sieved yolks for a fine, crumbly topping.
- White sauce
- Forms a creamy, binding base that holds the chopped egg whites together.
- Toast
- Gives a crisp, absorbent base that holds the creamy sauce without going soggy at once.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sauce):
- Capersfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sauce. 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
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipes