Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,923 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Eggs with Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the eggs
Boil the eggs until hard, about 10 minutes.
Cool the eggs and peel them.
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the tomato sauce to the butter.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
Heat the sauce through.
Serve
Slice the eggs in half and place them on a serving dish.
Pour the tomato sauce over the eggs.
Serve warm.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together5,469 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Sauce and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 15,338 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Provide the main body of the dish, with firm whites and set yolks after boiling.
- Tomato sauce
- Adds moisture, acidity and savory flavor that coats the eggs.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavor into the sauce as it melts.
The step that matters
Boil the eggs until hard. Boiling too briefly leaves the yolks soft and hard to slice neatly, while overcooking can leave a greyish ring around the yolk. Ten minutes gives fully set yolks that hold their shape when halved.
“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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