Name: Shirred Eggs
Ingredients: butter; fine bread crumbs; eggs; coarse sea salt

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 ↓

Shirred Eggs

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

butter
fine bread crumbs
eggs
coarse sea salt

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Butter a ramekin and add a layer of fine buttered crumbs.
Break an egg into a saucer and slip it into the ramekin.
Sprinkle lightly with coarse sea salt and cover with seasoned buttered crumbs.
Place the ramekin in a shallow pan of hot water and cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the egg white is firm.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).