Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Omelet Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Break the eggs into separate bowls.
Butter a souffle pan to prevent sticking.
Make the soufflé
Whisk 4 egg yolks with flour, sugar, salt, and your choice of flavoring.
Whisk the whites of all 6 eggs to a firm froth.
Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
Bake and serve
Bake for 15 minutes, until well risen and browned.
Sift a little sugar over the top 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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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 set the structure as they cook.
- Flour
- Gives the yolk base a little body so it holds the folded foam more stably.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the base and helps stabilize the foam while it bakes.
- Butter
- Greases the pan so the risen soufflé releases cleanly rather than sticking.
The step that matters
Folding the egg whites into the yolk mixture. Egg whites hold air only while they are whipped. Folding gently keeps that air in, and overmixing deflates the foam, so the soufflé rises less in the oven.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, sugar, butter):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, sugar, butter. 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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