Name: Sweet Omelettes
Ingredients: 6 large eggs; 4 tablespoons finely powdered white sugar; 1 tablespoon rose, orange, or other flavoring; preserves or additional sugar for serving; rum (optional)

Why it works: Sugar and rum are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,908 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Sweet Omelettes

Ingredients

6 large eggs
4 tablespoons finely powdered white sugar
1 tablespoon rose, orange, or other flavoring
preserves or additional sugar for serving
rum (optional)

Directions

Beat the yolks of the eggs with the sugar and flavoring until well combined.
Prepare the egg whites separately (instructions not provided in the text).
When ready to serve, add preserves or sprinkle sugar on top.
If using rum, add a little to the beaten eggs and pour some over the omelette before serving.
Light the rum for a dramatic presentation if desired.

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.

Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,908 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together41 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,584 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Egg + rumtop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,589 recipes

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