Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Artichoke Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the base
Slice and boil Jerusalem artichokes until soft, then mash to make 2 cups of pulp.
Soak the bread crumbs in hot milk for 10 minutes.
Mix in melted butter, beaten egg yolks, and salt.
Bake
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Bake in a water bath at 400°F (200°C) for about 30 minutes or until firm.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Jerusalem artichoke + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together51 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl decanoate (grape, waxy).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Jerusalem artichoke pulp
- Provides the bulk and moisture that make up the soufflé's body.
- Egg whites
- Beaten stiff, they trap air that lifts and gives the soufflé its rise.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the base and help it set into a tender, custard-like texture.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the hot milk to add body and a softer structure to the mixture.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air trapped in the beaten whites. Stirring vigorously deflates the foam, so the soufflé rises less and bakes up dense.
Swap the jerusalem artichoke
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, butter, egg):
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Leekfits better
- Jerusalem artichokethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, butter, egg. 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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