Culinary question: Butter a pan before scrambling eggs? What's that smell?

MisterCode · January 2017

I don't know what may have changed regarding my olfactory senses; but all of a sudden I can't be in the kitchen when my wife scrambles eggs with butter. I always react by smelling the butter dish to see if it has gone rancid. That's the smell I smell when she dumps in the scrambled eggs to the buttered pan. But low and behold it is fresh and not at all rancid. Full disclosure: this is not Land o Lakes or any grocery store brand (and obviously not margarine either). We get our butter from a local dairy farm. The ingredients: Creme, salt.

I just figured I was going insane until I read a completely unrelated article about how egg breaks down oil. So I thought I'd post here to see if any culinary experts can tell me what might be going on here. Thoughts?

Eoin · January 2017

Buttery scrambled eggs smell and taste delicious, especially on hot buttered toast or a bagel. No idea about your predicament.

JethroVA · January 2017

no clue

northGAcock · January 2017

I am not a butter man with eggs any longer. The reason is not smell though....I find it easier to spray the cast iron with a little olive oil. I believe it may have a higher flash point than butter....anyway, I wonder if she has the pan to hot. I find the best way to scramble eggs (without butter) is to bring them along at a low temp (slow). Just a suggestion....not sure what the root cause is of your dilemma.

fishlessman · January 2017

does your wife use milk in the eggs, i like the texture and taste of eggs with just a small amount cold water and add the butter at the end. lately though im sensitive to the smells of cooking oils, they have been smelling more like window putty to me and i have no idea why, new and older bottles, especially the evoo's

Richard Fl · January 2017

Could the butter have burnt before adding the eggs and the burnt solids are what you are smelling? a nutty flavor like ghee before straining the solids.

blasting · January 2017

MisterCode said:

I don't know what may have changed regarding my olfactory senses; but all of a sudden I can't be in the kitchen when my wife scrambles eggs with butter. I always react by smelling the butter dish to see if it has gone rancid. That's the smell I smell when she dumps in the scrambled eggs to the buttered pan. But low and behold it is fresh and not at all rancid. Full disclosure: this is not Land o Lakes or any grocery store brand (and obviously not margarine either). We get our butter from a local dairy farm. The ingredients: Creme, salt.

I just figured I was going insane until I read a completely unrelated article about how egg breaks down oil. So I thought I'd post here to see if any culinary experts can tell me what might be going on here. Thoughts?

Have you been bit by a spider recently? I'd watch for the development of super powers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg83d4VziLk

On a serious note - i have no idea.

theyolksonyou · January 2017

We had the same kind of bacteria that breaks down butter when rancid get into a holding tank at work. Couldn't smell it at all in the tank. After it went thru the oven it was unbearable. Even after product sat in the shelf for weeks.

Not sure that means anything.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · January 2017

It's grass fed butter. That smell is omega 3 oils (smells like fish?)

henapple · January 2017

Maybe she farted?

JRWhitee · January 2017

Are you pregnant?

nolaegghead · January 2017

Pliny the Elder calls butter "the most delicate of food among barbarous nations"

Bacteria in butter (or from the cream/milk) can create butyric acid which happens to be the main foul odor of human vomit.

Also, you can imagine you smell some things that aren't there due to a condition called "Phantosmia". Smells invoke strong memories and this can be a normal thing based on your history of them.

bgebrent · January 2017

nolaegghead said:

Pliny the Elder calls butter "the most delicate of food among barbarous nations"

Bacteria in butter (or from the cream/milk) can create butyric acid which happens to be the main foul odor of human vomit.

Also, you can imagine you smell some things that aren't there due to a condition called "Phantosmia". Smells invoke strong memories and this can be a normal thing based on your history of them.

When was the last time you smelled butyric in your kitchen. Guessing never. It's his sense of smell. Use butter all the time, always smells like a good Chopin symphony.

theyolksonyou · January 2017

nolaegghead said:

Pliny the Elder calls butter "the most delicate of food among barbarous nations"

Bacteria in butter (or from the cream/milk) can create butyric acid which happens to be the main foul odor of human vomit.

Also, you can imagine you smell some things that aren't there due to a condition called "Phantosmia". Smells invoke strong memories and this can be a normal thing based on your history of them.

This. That butyric acid smells like puke. In butter or latex.

nolaegghead · January 2017

Read the last paragraph

Related pages: Chemistry · Fatty Acids · Methyl ketones · Cooking · Other molecules ·

Milk fat is comprised mostly of triglycerides, with small amounts of mono- and diglycerides, phospholipids, glycolipids, and lipo-proteins. The trigylcerides (98% of milkfat) are of diverse composition with respect to their component fatty acids, approximately 40% of which are unsaturated fat firmness varies with chain length, degree of unsaturation, and position of the fatty acids on the glycerol. This is a typical breakdown of fatty acids in butter:

Flavorful fatty acids play an important role in the flavor of butter and are present at varied concentrations. Although long-chain fatty acids are present at higher concentrations in butter, they do not make a significant contribution to flavor. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), on the other hand, do play an important role in butter's flavor.

Typically, SCFA are found in the serum portion of butter (aqueous solution of all non-fat components) where their flavor potential is stronger. They occur below their Flavor Threshold Value (FTV): the minimum concentration level below which aroma or taste is imperceptible. Despite low concentrations, SCFA react in a synergistic and additive manner to provide characteristic flavors found in butter. Butyric acid is the most widely known and most potent SCFA and is attributed to providing intensity to fatty acid-type flavors associated with butter. Butter also contains a variety of fatty acid precursors of 4-cis-heptenal, a compound which provides butter with a creamy flavor.

bgebrent · January 2017

I stand corrected. Butter in my pots and pans smells, like butter. Maybe I'm nose-blind

bgebrent · January 2017

And maybe because I'm a Kerry Gold snob?

ckali7 · January 2017

LOL, I was just thinking about this as I scrambled my boy two eggs this morning. It's the eggs, I didn't use butter, and they stink.... Smell like a wet dog to me.

Ozzie_Isaac · January 2017

theyolksonyou said:

nolaegghead said:

Pliny the Elder calls butter "the most delicate of food among barbarous nations"

Bacteria in butter (or from the cream/milk) can create butyric acid which happens to be the main foul odor of human vomit.

Also, you can imagine you smell some things that aren't there due to a condition called "Phantosmia". Smells invoke strong memories and this can be a normal thing based on your history of them.

This. That butyric acid smells like puke. In butter or latex.

You put carpet in the oven?

nolaegghead · January 2017

ckali7 said:

LOL, I was just thinking about this as I scrambled my boy two eggs this morning. It's the eggs, I didn't use butter, and they stink.... Smell like a wet dog to me.

You can get a sulfur smell from eggs, usually if they're boiled.

If the hens eat rapeseed or soy, bacteria in their gut can make triethylamine, which is fishy smelling.

bgebrent · January 2017

nolaegghead said:

ckali7 said:

LOL, I was just thinking about this as I scrambled my boy two eggs this morning. It's the eggs, I didn't use butter, and they stink.... Smell like a wet dog to me.

You can get a sulfur smell from eggs, usually if they're boiled.

If the hens eat rapeseed or soy, bacteria in their gut can make triethylamine, which is fishy smelling.

And as often when scrambled? This so far seems esoteric.

nolaegghead · January 2017

bgebrent said:

nolaegghead said:

ckali7 said:

LOL, I was just thinking about this as I scrambled my boy two eggs this morning. It's the eggs, I didn't use butter, and they stink.... Smell like a wet dog to me.

You can get a sulfur smell from eggs, usually if they're boiled.

If the hens eat rapeseed or soy, bacteria in their gut can make triethylamine, which is fishy smelling.

And as often when scrambled? This so far seems esoteric.

I'm the guy who asks the waiter which cheese stinks the most for my cheese board. I generally like foul smelling stuff. Stinky chemicals are natural components in the identity of many pleasant smelling foods. Diet, soil, weather, etc make some foods smell different. Not that esoteric my friend.

Gacraka · January 2017

When butter heats it smells nasty to me as well and I love butter...use bacon grease instead.

Toxarch · January 2017

I cook bacon in the pan first. Then pour out most of the grease and cook the eggs.

buzd504 · January 2017

I use ghee.

buzd504 · January 2017

nolaegghead said:

I'm the guy who asks the waiter which cheese stinks the most for my cheese board. I generally like foul smelling stuff. Stinky chemicals are natural components in the identity of many pleasant smelling foods. Diet, soil, weather, etc make some foods smell different. Not that esoteric my friend.

Mmmm, epoisses

Eoin · January 2017

Toxarch said:

I cook bacon in the pan first. Then pour out most of the grease and cook the eggs.

Fry your bread in the fat instead of pouring it off for the full English heart attack.

Acn · January 2017

nolaegghead said:

bgebrent said:

nolaegghead said:

ckali7 said:

LOL, I was just thinking about this as I scrambled my boy two eggs this morning. It's the eggs, I didn't use butter, and they stink.... Smell like a wet dog to me.

You can get a sulfur smell from eggs, usually if they're boiled.

If the hens eat rapeseed or soy, bacteria in their gut can make triethylamine, which is fishy smelling.

And as often when scrambled? This so far seems esoteric.

I'm the guy who asks the waiter which cheese stinks the most for my cheese board. I generally like foul smelling stuff. Stinky chemicals are natural components in the identity of many pleasant smelling foods. Diet, soil, weather, etc make some foods smell different. Not that esoteric my friend.

The terroir of butter and eggs.

theyolksonyou · January 2017

Ozzie_Isaac said:

theyolksonyou said:

nolaegghead said:

Pliny the Elder calls butter "the most delicate of food among barbarous nations"

Bacteria in butter (or from the cream/milk) can create butyric acid which happens to be the main foul odor of human vomit.

Also, you can imagine you smell some things that aren't there due to a condition called "Phantosmia". Smells invoke strong memories and this can be a normal thing based on your history of them.

This. That butyric acid smells like puke. In butter or latex.

You put carpet in the oven?

Yep. Gotta dry it.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · January 2017

bgebrent said:

And maybe because I'm a Kerry Gold snob?

Kerry gold smells like ass when it gets hot. It's grass fed too.

Mickey · January 2017

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

bgebrent said:

And maybe because I'm a Kerry Gold snob?

Kerry gold smells like ass when it gets hot. It's grass fed too.

Kerry Gold fan as well. Have mixed the Kerry Gold with evoo and noticed a just off smell but went on. What is a non-grass premium butter?

Culinary question: Butter a pan before scrambling eggs? What's that smell?

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