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Eggs with Cheese

A baked dish of eggs, Gruyère cheese, cream, butter, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Eggs with Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Spread the butter on the bottom of a fireproof dish.

  3. Layer thin slices of Gruyère cheese over the butter.

Assemble and bake

  1. Carefully break the eggs into the dish, avoiding disturbing the yolks.

  2. Season with pepper and salt, then pour the cream over the top.

  3. Sprinkle grated cheese on top and bake for about 10 minutes.

Brown and serve

  1. Use a hot salamander to brown the top, then serve immediately with thin toast.

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 + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 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
Set to form the body of the dish as they cook.
Gruyère cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding richness and savoury flavour.
Thick cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the eggs tender as they set.
Fresh butter
Adds fat and flavour and keeps the dish from sticking to the bottom.

The step that matters

Breaking the eggs into the dish. Eggs set quickly in the oven, so keeping the yolks intact gives a neat, even appearance. Breaking them gently also prevents the whites from spreading unevenly and the yolks from breaking under 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.

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