Name: Cheese Souffle
Ingredients: 2 tablespoonfuls of butter in a saucepan; 1 cup of grated cheese; a cup of milk; a teaspoonful of salt; 1 heap- ing tablespoonful of flour; 3 eggs well beaten; salt; paprika

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 ↓

Cheese Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

Put 2 tablespoonfuls of butter in a saucepan.
Add 1 heaping tablespoonful of flour and stir until smooth.
Add half a cup of milk, half a teaspoon of salt, and a little paprika. Cook for two minutes.

Make the soufflé

Add the yolks of 3 eggs well beaten and 1 cup of grated cheese.
Set aside to cool.
When cold, add the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth.

Bake and serve

Turn into a buttered dish and bake for 25 minutes.
Serve immediately or it will fall.
Serve currant jelly with this dish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

897Calories

34 gProtein

35 gFat

108 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.). 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. See the original page.

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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

Eggs: Whipped whites trap air that lifts the soufflé, while the yolks enrich the base.
Flour: Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth base that holds the mixture together.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, and forms the roux with the flour.
Milk: Provides the liquid that the flour thickens into a smooth sauce base.
Cheese: Adds savoury flavour and richness to the base.

The step that matters

Add the whipped whites when cold and serve immediately. Beaten egg whites trap air that expands in the oven to lift the soufflé. Adding them to a warm base can deflate them, and the set structure cools and collapses quickly, so it should be served right away.

“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.