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Dessert

Custard Souffle

A light custard-based dessert folded with beaten egg whites and baked until puffed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Custard Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard base

  1. Cream the butter in a bowl.

  2. Add the cornstarch and gradually pour in the hot milk, stirring constantly.

  3. Cook in a double boiler for 10 minutes, stirring often.

  4. Separate the egg whites and yolks; place the whites in a cool place.

  5. Beat the yolks and mix in the sugar.

  6. Once the milk mixture has slightly cooled, stir in the yolk mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff and gently fold them into the mixture.

  2. Pour into a buttered pudding dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.

  3. Serve immediately with a creamy 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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and give the souffle its light, risen structure.
Egg yolks
Enrich the custard and help it set, adding richness and a smooth texture.
Cornstarch
Thickens the hot milk into a custard base that can support the folded whites.
Hot milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding moisture and a soft texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the yolks and butter.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Whites hold air only when whipped to stiff peaks and folded gently. Overmixing knocks out the air, so the souffle will not rise well in the oven.

“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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