Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓
Baked 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 gravy
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Pour enough gravy into a baking dish to cover the bottom.
Mix the remaining gravy with the chopped parsley and onions.
Place the dish in the oven until the gravy bubbles.
Bake and serve
Carefully break the eggs into the gravy without crowding them.
Quickly sprinkle bread crumbs over the eggs, then season with pepper and salt.
Return the dish to the oven for 3 minutes.
Pour the remaining hot gravy over the eggs.
Add more fine bread crumbs and bake until the eggs are set.
Serve directly from the baking dish.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,814 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Parsley + oniontop 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).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (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 structure as the whites cook, holding the dish together.
- Chicken gravy
- Provides moisture and savoury flavour, and keeps the eggs from drying out.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Add a crisp, golden topping that browns in the oven.
- Onions
- Add a mild aroma and savoury sweetness to the gravy.
The step that matters
Carefully break the eggs into the gravy without crowding them. Eggs placed too close together run into one another and cook unevenly, so some whites set before others and yolks may overcook. Spacing them out lets each egg set separately in the hot gravy.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, chicken, parsley, bread, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, chicken, parsley, bread, pepper. 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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