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Pea Souffle

A steamed or baked dish of peas, milk, butter, flour, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Pea Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Strain the peas and combine with enough milk to make 1 pint.

  2. In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour to create a roux.

  3. Gradually add the strained peas and milk mixture to the roux, stirring continuously.

  4. Season with salt, pepper, sugar, and onion juice if desired.

Finish and cook

  1. Fold in the well-beaten egg whites gently.

  2. Pour the mixture into buttered molds.

  3. Steam or bake in a water bath until the center is firm.

  4. Turn out of the molds before serving.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,460 recipes

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

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 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

Egg whites
Whipped egg whites trap air and set into a light, airy structure when cooked.
Flour
Forms a roux with butter that thickens the pea and milk mixture into a smooth base.
Butter
Enriches the roux and adds richness and flavour to the base.
Milk
Adds liquid and body to the pea purée, giving a softer, creamier texture.
Peas
Provide the main flavour and colour of the soufflé.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Whipped egg whites hold the air that makes a soufflé rise. Heavy stirring deflates the foam, so the mixture cooks dense rather than light and airy.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, milk, butter, flour, pepper, sugar, egg):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, milk, butter, flour, pepper, sugar, 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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