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Fish Souffle

A baked fish soufflé made with a roux, milk, eggs, fish, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the base

  1. Melt and mix the butter and flour in a saucepan over medium heat for 2 minutes without browning.

  2. Add the hot milk and stir until the mixture thickens smoothly.

  3. Season with salt, cayenne, and onion juice, then add the chopped parsley.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in the beaten egg yolks and flaked fish.

  5. Return to low heat and stir until the eggs slightly thicken the mixture, then set aside to cool.

Bake and serve

  1. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold into the cooled mixture.

  2. Pour into a greased dish and bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes until puffed and brown.

  3. Serve immediately as it will deflate quickly.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg whites whipped to stiff peaks trap air for lift; yolks thicken the base and add richness.
Butter and flour
Cooked together into a roux, they thicken the milk into a smooth, stable base.
Hot milk
Forms the liquid body of the sauce that the flour thickens and the eggs enrich.
Cooked fish
Provides the main flavour and substance of the souffle.

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 bubbles, so the souffle rises poorly and turns dense.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, pepper, parsley, egg, fish):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, pepper, parsley, egg, fish. 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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