Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Puff Omelette
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the yolks of the eggs until very light.
Mix the flour with the sweet milk, then add salt and pepper.
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Bake and serve
Melt the butter in a baking pan.
Pour the mixture into the pan and bake until delicately brown.
Roll up the omelette, turn it onto a hot platter, and serve immediately.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 for lift; yolks add richness and tender structure.
- Flour
- Gives the batter body so it holds together when rolled.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and softness, thinning the batter for even cooking.
- Butter
- Adds fat and flavour and helps the surface brown in the pan.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Whites hold the air that makes the omelette rise. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air from collapsing and leaving the omelette dense.
“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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