Name: Zepher Souffles
Ingredients: 8 oz finely sifted sugar; a few drops essence of mint; 8 oz finely shredded almonds; whites of 2 eggs

Why it works: Mint and almond work together. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 210 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Zepher Souffles

Ingredients

8 oz finely sifted sugar
a few drops essence of mint
8 oz finely shredded almonds
whites of 2 eggs

Directions

Whisk the egg whites and sugar over low heat until you achieve a substantial white frothy icing.
Add the shredded almonds and essence of mint to the mixture.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto white paper on baking sheets, spacing them 1½ inches apart.

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.

Mint + almondtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together210 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Sugar + minttop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,592 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).