Name: Souffle
Ingredients: butter for greasing; paper for lining; whites of eggs; a small pinch of salt; fish mixture

Why it works: Butter and fish are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,488 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Grease a souffle tin and tie a buttered paper around the outside, leaving a 2.5-inch edge above the tin.
Whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.
Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the fish mixture.
Pour the mixture into the lined souffle tin.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 45 minutes.
Quickly remove the paper and place the tin into a souffle case or wrap it in a folded napkin.
Serve immediately to prevent sinking.

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.

Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,488 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Egg + fishtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,782 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).