Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Omelet Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the base
Separate the egg whites and yolks into two bowls.
In a saucepan, combine orange-flower water and caster sugar; boil for 3 minutes.
Pour the mixture into a cup to cool, then add the egg yolks and beat until creamy.
Whip and fold
Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whip until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the yolk mixture.
Cook and serve
Heat butter in a frying pan, then pour in the egg mixture.
Cook on low heat for about 2.5 minutes, then transfer the pan to a preheated oven at 400 °F (200 °C) for 3-4 minutes.
Melt the jam, then remove the soufflé from the oven, turn it onto a hot dish, spread the jam on top, and fold it like a sandwich.
Sprinkle with white sugar.
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.
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Orange + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Eggs
- Whites trap air when whipped, giving the soufflé its light, risen structure, while yolks enrich the batter.
- Butter
- Fat in the pan that helps the base brown and release without sticking.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the batter and dissolves into the syrup that flavours the soufflé.
- Jam
- Adds sweetness and fruity flavour, and a moist layer between the folded halves.
The step that matters
Folding the whipped egg whites into the yolk mixture. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whites intact. Stirring or deflating them makes the soufflé heavy and stops it rising in the oven.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter. 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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