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 ↓
Custard Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Rub 2 scant tablespoons butter to a cream; then add 2 tablespoons flour and 1 cup hot milk.
Pour gradually over the flour and cook 8 minutes in a double boiler, straining often.
Beat 4 eggs separately from yolks. Put whites away in an ice chest.
Beat yolks and add 2 tablespoons sugar, then add to the milk mixture and set aside to cool.
Bake and serve
One-half hour before serving beat the whites stiff and fold them lightly into the cooled mixture.
Bake in a buttered pudding dish in a moderate oven for 30 minutes, and serve immediately with cream sauce; alternatively, place the mixture in buttered paper cases and bake for 10 or 15 minutes.
Serve with Sauce No. 19.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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 and lift the soufflé as it bakes, while yolks enrich the custard base.
- Flour
- Cooked with butter and milk, it thickens the base into a stable custard that holds the whites.
- Butter
- Creamed with flour at the start, it adds richness and flavour to the base.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid of the thickened base, giving it body and softness.
- Sugar
- Added to the yolks, it sweetens the base and adds flavour.
The step that matters
Folding the whites into the cooled base. Whites must be beaten stiff and folded in lightly, not stirred hard, so the air bubbles survive. Lost air means a flat, dense soufflé. The base must be cool so it does not deflate the whites.
“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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