Skip to main content
Main

Eggs a LA Suisse

A baked dish of eggs topped with cheese, red pepper, sea salt, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cheese and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,655 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Eggs a LA Suisse

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Assemble

  1. Spread the bottom of a dish with 2 ounces of flour batter.

  2. Cover with grated cheese.

  3. Break 8 whole eggs onto the cheese without breaking the yolks.

  4. Season with red pepper and coarse sea salt if necessary.

  5. Pour a little cream on the surface.

  6. Sprinkle about 2 ounces of grated cheese on top.

Bake and brown

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 15 minutes.

  2. Use a salamander to brown the top.

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. Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,655 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Egg + cheesetop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,253 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Flour batter
Forms the firm base layer that holds the eggs and cheese as it bakes.
Eggs
Set with gentle heat to give the dish its soft, custardy body.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the surface and eggs tender.

The step that matters

Watch the bake time. Eggs thicken quickly as they set, so overbaking turns the yolks firm and dry. Remove the dish once the whites are set while the yolks still look soft, since they keep cooking from residual heat.

“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

Macaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipesCheese MakingCheese Making50 recipesCheese FrittersCheese Fritters34 recipesCheese OmeletteCheese Omelette31 recipes