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
Prepare
Cream the butter with 1/4 cupful sugar.
Beat the flour into the creamed butter.
Pour in the milk gradually while it is boiling hot.
Make the custard
Cook the mixture for about five minutes in a double boiler, stirring often.
Beat the yolks of the eggs until thick, add the sugar, and stir carefully into the cooking mixture.
Remove from the fire and set aside to cool.
Bake and serve
About 30 minutes before serving, fold the stiffly-beaten egg whites into the mixture.
Bake in a buttered pudding dish for about 2 an hour.
Serve immediately with creamy sauce.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Cream + buttertop 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).
-
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
- Yolks thicken the custard and stiff whites trap air so the souffle rises.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens into a smooth custard.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and milk mixture so it holds its shape around the air.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender texture to the base mixture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the eggs and butter.
The step that matters
Folding in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that lifts the souffle in the oven. Stirring them in vigorously or letting them sit too long deflates the foam, so the souffle bakes flat and dense.
“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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