Name: Date Souffle
Ingredients: 4 egg whites; 3 teaspoons lemon juice; ½ cup sugar; ½ pound dates; a pinch of salt; ½ cup water

Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Date 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.

Prepare the date puree

Simmer the dates in water until very soft, then rub through a sieve.

Make the soufflé

Beat the egg whites until very stiff.
Gradually beat in the sugar and salt, then add the lemon juice and date puree.
Mix lightly and pour into a buttered baking dish.

Bake and serve

Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C).
Serve hot or cold with whipped cream.

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.

Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + datestop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together985 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together44,316 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + datestop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together213 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Egg whites: Whipped into a stiff foam that traps air and gives the soufflé its rise and light structure.
Dates: Cooked to a soft puree that supplies the main flavour, sweetness and moisture.
Sugar: Stabilises the whipped egg white foam and adds sweetness to the dish.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sweet date flavour and helps stabilise the egg white foam.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites until very stiff. Egg white foam holds air only when whipped enough, and the sugar must be added gradually so the foam stays stable. Under-whipped or deflated whites produce a flat soufflé, so the date puree and whites should be folded gently rather than stirred hard.