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Dessert

Chocolate Souffle

A chocolate soufflé made with chocolate, milk, vanilla, sugar, flour, eggs, and butter, baked in a water bath.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Chocolate Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan.

  2. Stir the flour into the melted butter and cook for a minute, but not brown.

  3. Slowly add the milk, stirring until smooth and slightly thickened.

  4. Remove the mixture from the heat and slowly pour it over the beaten yolks and sugar.

  5. Mix thoroughly and add the melted chocolate.

  6. Stir for a few minutes, then set aside to cool.

  7. Rub a little butter over the top of the mixture so a crust will not form.

Fill and bake

  1. When ready to serve, stir the mixture well to make it smooth and fold in the whipped egg whites.

  2. Line the tin with a strip of greased paper that rises above the sides to confine the soufflé as it rises.

  3. Turn the mixture into a buttered tin, filling it two thirds full.

  4. Place the tin in a deep saucepan containing enough hot water to cover one half the tin.

  5. Cover the saucepan and simmer the water for thirty minutes, keeping it covered all the time.

Serve

  1. Place the tin on a very hot dish and serve immediately.

  2. If the soufflé must be carried far, cover the top with a hot tin until it reaches the dining room.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1000Calories
29 gProtein
35 gFat
138 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12

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

By Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  4. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 base and whipped whites give the soufflé its light, risen structure.
Flour
Cooked with butter and milk, it thickens the base so it can hold the rising foam.
Butter
Enriches the base with fat and gives a rich, tender texture.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and deep colour of the soufflé.
Milk
Liquid that, with flour and butter, forms the thickened base.
Sugar
Sweetens the base and helps stabilise the beaten yolks.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped egg whites. Whites hold air only when whipped properly, and folding gently keeps that air in the mixture so the soufflé rises instead of deflating.

“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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