Why it works: Egg and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Consommé Aux Œufs Pochés
Ingredients
Directions
Poach the eggs
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add vinegar.
Carefully drop the eggs, one by one, into the boiling water.
Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer until the eggs are firm.
Remove the eggs with a spoon or perforated skimmer and place them in cold water briefly.
Trim the edges of the eggs evenly and transfer them to a tureen.
Serve
Pour the boiling consommé gently into the tureen and serve.
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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Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,922 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 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
- Eggs
- Set into firm, tender whites and soft yolks as the main component of the dish.
- Consommé
- Provides a clear, savoury broth that surrounds and flavours the poached eggs.
- Vinegar
- Helps the egg whites coagulate quickly and hold their shape in the water.
The step that matters
Dropping the eggs into a gentle simmer. Eggs dropped into vigorously boiling water can break apart and turn ragged, while a gentle simmer lets the whites set evenly around the yolk. Keeping the water at a simmer once the eggs are in helps them stay intact and firm.
“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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