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 Souffles
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 into a large bowl, separating the whites and 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 butter in a pan over medium heat.
Pour the omelette mixture into the pan and cook until the bottom is firm.
Transfer the omelette to a serving dish and bake in the oven at 350°F (175°C) until well risen.
Serve immediately to prevent it from lowering.
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).
-
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 trap air for lift, while yolks add richness and set the structure of the omelette.
- Butter
- Fat for frying that gives the base a golden, richly flavoured crust.
- Sugar
- Adds a little sweetness to the yolk mixture.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten whites. Whites hold air only as long as they stay stiff, so folding gently keeps bubbles intact. Heavy stirring deflates them, and the soufflé will rise less and fall faster.
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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