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 ↓
Omelette Soufflee
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Break the eggs, separating the whites into one bowl and the yolks into another.
Grate a little lemon peel or orange flowers into the yolks.
Beat the yolks well, then add a little sugar and salt.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the yolk mixture.
Cook and bake
Melt a lump of butter in a skillet over medium heat.
Pour the omelette mixture into the skillet.
Cook until the bottom is firm enough to hold the liquid part.
Transfer the omelette to a serving dish and bake in the oven at 350°F (175°C) until well risen.
Glaze the top and serve immediately.
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).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Whites trapped by whipping provide the airy structure that lets the omelette rise.
- Egg yolks
- Yolks add richness and fat, and their proteins help set the custard-like body.
- Sugar
- Adds a touch of sweetness and helps the top brown lightly when glazed.
The step that matters
Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the yolk mixture.. Egg whites hold air only while whipped. Heavy stirring deflates the foam, so the omelette will not rise well 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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