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Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs are hard‑boiled eggs filled with a seasoned yolk mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Remove shells from hard-boiled eggs and cut them lengthwise.

  2. Take out yolks and mash them with butter, salt, pepper, mustard, and celery seed.

  3. Moisten mixture with vinegar.

Assemble

  1. Replace yolks into egg whites, pressing halves together.

  2. Place eggs in a dish.

  3. Thin remaining yolks with more vinegar.

  4. Pour mixture over eggs.

  5. Add grated cheese to filling if desired.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  3. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Hard-boiled whites hold the yolk filling, and the yolks provide richness and body.
Butter
Adds fat and smoothness, helping the mashed yolk filling feel creamy.
Mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavor that balances the richness of the yolks.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the filling and loosens it to a moist consistency.

The step that matters

Moisten the filling with vinegar. Vinegar must be added gradually. Too little leaves the mashed yolk stiff and dry, while too much makes the filling thin and watery, so the piped or spooned filling will not hold its shape.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, pepper, mustard, vinegar, cheese. 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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