Skip to main content
Main

Pickled Eggs

Hard-boiled eggs pickled in a spiced vinegar solution.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pickled Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the eggs

  1. Place the eggs in a pot and cover them with cold water.

  2. Bring the water to a boil and boil the eggs for 5 minutes.

  3. Remove the eggs and place them in cold water.

  4. Carefully remove the shells and place the eggs in a jar.

Pickle

  1. In a separate pot, combine enough strong vinegar to cover the eggs with cloves, allspice, black pepper, and a little red pepper.

  2. Bring the vinegar mixture to a boil and pour it over the eggs, adding a little salt.

  3. Seal the jar once the mixture has cooled.

  4. Let the eggs sit for 3 days before using, but they are best after about a week.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Provide the main body of the dish, which firms when boiled and absorbs the pickling flavor.
Strong vinegar
Adds acidity that preserves the eggs and gives the pickled sharpness.
Cloves
Add warm, aromatic spice flavor to the pickling liquid.
Allspice
Adds aromatic, warm spice notes to the pickling liquid.
Black pepper
Adds sharp, pungent heat and aroma to the pickling liquid.
Red pepper
Adds a little chili heat to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Boiling the eggs and cooling them before pickling. Boiling for the stated time sets the whites and cooks the yolks through. Cooling them promptly in cold water stops further cooking and makes the shells easier to peel cleanly. Sealing the jar only after the hot vinegar has cooled keeps the pickling liquid from overheating the eggs and helps them stay firm.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, allspice, pepper):

  1. Tarragonfits about as well
  2. Clovethe original
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Dillfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, allspice, 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes