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 ↓
Orange Soufflé
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 base
Mix butter and flour in a stewpan without melting the butter.
Pour in the lukewarm milk mixed with orange flavoring and stir over medium heat.
Boil for five minutes.
Quickly add the beaten egg yolks and sugar.
Let the mixture cool.
Assemble and bake
Whip the egg whites until firm.
Fold the whipped egg whites into the mixture.
Pour the batter into a buttered soufflé pan with a band of buttered paper tied around the top.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for nearly an hour.
Remove the paper.
Serve immediately.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Enriches the base and adds richness and a tender crumb.
- Fine flour
- Thickens the milk mixture into a stable base that holds the soufflé's structure.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and thicken the base, helping it bind and set.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to foam, they trap air and make the soufflé rise and become light.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid body of the base that the flour thickens.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the soufflé and adds body to the base.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whites are whipped to trap air, and folding gently keeps that air in. Overmixing deflates the batter, so the soufflé rises less and turns dense.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, egg, sugar. 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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