Name: Petits Biscuits Souffles Aux Avelines
Ingredients: 3 ounces filberts; 3 egg whites; 8 ounces finely sifted sugar

Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Petits Biscuits Souffles Aux Avelines

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

3 ounces filberts
3 egg whites
8 ounces finely sifted sugar

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Skin and cut the filberts into very thin fillets.
Place the filberts in a 300°F (150°C) oven to color slightly.
While cooling, whip the egg whites until stiff.
Mix the whipped egg whites with the sugar and filberts.
Optionally, mask with finely chopped filberts mixed with a little egg white and 2 teaspoons of sugar.

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.

Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Filbert + eggtop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together86 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Filbert + sugartop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together143 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).