Why it works: Lemon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Omelet Soufflee
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.
Make the mixture
In a saucepan, combine the egg yolks, sifted sugar, crushed ratafia cakes, grated lemon rind, and a pinch of salt.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the mixture.
Cook and brown
Melt the butter in a frying pan over low heat.
Pour the mixture into the pan and stir until it begins to set.
Transfer to a plate and place in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden brown, or use a salamander to brown the top.
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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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Sugar and lemon 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 to stiff peaks, they trap air that lifts the mixture and gives it a light structure.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the base and set into a soft, custard-like texture when heated.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and helps keep the whipped egg whites stable.
- Ratafia cakes
- Add a toasted almond flavour and a crumbly body to the mixture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the base brown in the pan.
The step that matters
Stir until it begins to set. Stirring only until the mixture starts to thicken keeps the folded egg whites light. Overcooking in the pan makes the mixture dense and stops it rising in the oven.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, 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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