Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. 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).
Beat the egg whites separately from the yolks.
Make the mixture
Whisk the egg whites into the yolks.
Add the sugar and vanilla extract, mixing well.
Pour the mixture onto a shallow tin or plate.
Bake and serve
Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes until lightly golden.
Serve immediately in the dish it was baked.
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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together27,347 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Beaten whites trap air, giving the soufflé its light, risen structure.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and fat, giving a tender, custard-like texture to the mixture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps stabilize the beaten egg whites.
The step that matters
Whisk the egg whites into the yolks. Beaten egg whites hold trapped air that makes the soufflé rise. Overmixing or stirring too hard deflates the foam, so the mixture bakes flat and dense. Combine gently and bake promptly.
“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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