Name: Petites Caisses De Foies Gras, Demi-soufflé
Ingredients: foies gras; farce fine; financial sauce; 3 egg whites

Why it works: Sauce and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 39% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,895 recipes. The science ↓

Petites Caisses De Foies Gras, Demi-soufflé

Ingredients

foies gras
farce fine
financial sauce
3 egg whites

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Prepare the foie gras and fill the molds, leaving a ¼ inch border.
Reserve some of the fine stuffing and lighten it with a few tablespoons of finishing sauce.

Make the mixture

Mix the reserved stuffing with the egg whites.
Mark each mold with this mixture.

Bake and serve

Place in a cool oven (300°F / 150°C) on a baking sheet, spaced 1 inch apart.
Bake for 30 minutes and serve without sauce.

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.

Sauce + eggtop 39% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together10,895 recipes

Sauce and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,895 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

Foies gras: Provides the rich fat and smooth, melting texture that defines the dish.
Farce fine: Forms the body of the filling, giving the molds structure and a fine texture.
Financial sauce: Lightens the reserved stuffing and adds moisture and savoury flavour.
Egg whites: Trap air and set on gentle heat, giving the soufflé its light, risen structure.

The step that matters

Folding the egg whites into the stuffing. Egg whites hold air only while intact, so mixing them in gently keeps the batter light. Overmixing deflates the foam and makes the soufflé dense. A cool oven sets the mixture slowly, so it stays tender rather than curdling or drying out.

“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.