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Dessert

An Omelet Souffle

A light, sweet omelette soufflé made with beaten egg whites folded into a lemony yolk mixture and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

An Omelet Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the eggs

  1. Separate the egg whites from the yolks.

  2. Beat the yolks thoroughly, then mix in the sugar and lemon zest.

  3. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  4. Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture.

Cook and bake

  1. Melt the butter in a small frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and stir gently to coat with butter.

  3. Cook until the bottom is set, then transfer to a well-buttered dish.

  4. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 5 to 10 minutes.

  5. Serve immediately after removing from the oven.

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.

  1. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  5. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Eggs
Whipped whites trap air for a light, airy structure, while yolks add richness and set the custard.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the yolk mixture and helps stabilise the batter for a tender texture.
Unsalted butter
Adds fat and flavour, and coats the pan so the mixture releases and browns lightly.

The step that matters

Folding the egg whites into the yolk mixture. Folding gently preserves the air bubbles in the whipped whites. Stirring or deflating them causes the soufflé to lose its lift and become dense.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. 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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