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Broccoli and Buttered Eggs

A dish of boiled broccoli served over buttered toast with eggs cooked in butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Broccoli and Buttered Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the broccoli until tender.

  2. Toast a slice of bread to fit the dish.

Make the egg mixture

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter with salt over low heat.

  2. Beat the eggs in a bowl, then add them to the warm butter.

  3. Stir continuously until the mixture thickens.

Serve

  1. Pour the egg mixture over the hot toast and top with broccoli.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Broccoli + breadtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together80 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).

  5. Broccoli + buttertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a thickened custard that gives the dish its body and structure.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor and keeping the eggs smooth and tender.
Broccoli
Adds moisture, mild bitterness and texture to the finished dish.
Bread
Provides a toasted base that soaks up the egg mixture and adds structure.

The step that matters

Stir continuously until the mixture thickens. Eggs set when heated, and over direct heat they can curdle into lumps. Constant stirring over low heat spreads the heat evenly so the mixture thickens into a smooth, creamy custard.

Swap the broccoli

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, bread):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Broccolithe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, bread. 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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