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Omelette Souffle

A light, airy omelette soufflé made with butter, eggs, cheese, powdered sugar, and lemon peel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Randolph · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Omelette Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the omelette

  1. Break six eggs, beat the yolks and whites separately till very light, then mix them.

  2. Add four tablespoonsful of powdered sugar and a little grated lemon peel.

  3. Put a quarter of a pound of butter in a pan.

  4. When melted, pour in the eggs and stir them.

  5. When they have absorbed the butter, turn it onto a plate previously buttered.

  6. Sprinkle some powdered sugar.

  7. Set it in a hot Dutch oven.

  8. When a little brown, serve it up for a dessert.

Make the cheese batter

  1. Put a pint of water and a lump of butter the size of an egg into a saucepan.

  2. Stir in as much flour as will make a thick batter.

  3. Put it on the fire and stir it continually until it will not stick to the pan.

  4. Put it in a bowl.

  5. Add three quarters of a pound of grated cheese and mix it well.

  6. Break in two eggs, beat them well.

  7. Then add two more eggs until you have six.

Bake

  1. When it looks very light, drop it in small lumps on buttered paper.

  2. Bake it in a quick oven until of a delicate brown.

  3. You may use corn meal instead of flour for a change.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

354Calories
14 gProtein
26 gFat
17 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mary Randolph. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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

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

  2. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
Whipped separately, they trap air and give the dish its light, risen structure.
Butter
Melted into the eggs and paper-greased, it adds richness and keeps the mixture from sticking.
Flour (in the method)
Cooked with water and butter, it forms a thick paste that sets the structure of the batter.
Grated cheese
Mixed into the batter, it adds savoury flavour and helps the lumps brown.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the egg mixture and helps it brown lightly in the oven.

The step that matters

Cook the flour paste until it leaves the pan. Stirring the water, butter and flour over heat drives off moisture and gelatinises the starch. A paste that is cooked enough to stop sticking holds its shape and traps steam, so the eggs can puff it up. Undercooked paste stays heavy and collapses.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cheese, egg, sugar. 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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