Name: Consomme Duchess
Ingredients: 2 egg whites; 1 cup milk; finely chopped parsley

Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Consomme Duchess

Ingredients

2 egg whites
1 cup milk
finely chopped parsley

Directions

Beat the egg whites until very stiff.
Heat the milk in a shallow vessel over hot water until scalding, being careful not to scorch it.
Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the beaten egg whites into the hot milk.
Cook the meringues on one side, then turn and cook on the other until done, checking by lightly touching with your fingers.
Float one meringue on top of each portion of consomme.
Sprinkle lightly with finely chopped parsley and serve in bouillon cups.

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.

Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,765 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Milk + parsleytop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,011 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).