Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Omelet Souffle
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.
Make the base
In a bowl, blend together the flour and butter.
Add the milk and heat in a saucepan until it thickens.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar and mix into the thickened milk.
Bake and serve
Set aside until ready to bake, then fold in the beaten egg whites.
Pour into a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.
Serve hot with sauce.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Flour
- Thickens with the butter and milk, giving the base structure and body.
- Butter
- Adds fat that enriches the base and softens its texture.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the flour thickens into a smooth base.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and thicken the base; whipped whites lift and set the soufflé as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the yolk mixture tender.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Beaten whites trap air that makes the soufflé rise. Stirring them in vigorously or letting them deflate before baking loses that lift, so fold gently and bake promptly.
“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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