Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Rum Omelet
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare an omelet as you would normally, keeping it slightly underdone.
Just before serving, pour 2 tablespoons of brandy around the omelet.
Dip a block of sugar in the brandy and place it on top of the omelet.
Light the sugar with a match or a lighter at the table.
Serve with cream-tomato or mushroom sauce around the omelet, if desired.
For added flavor, mix chopped chives or parsley into the omelet before cooking.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,635 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Chive + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together700 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Brandy + chivetop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together55 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Brandy and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
Swap the chive
The recipe marks chive as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, sugar, cream):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Chivethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sugar, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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