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 ↓
Souffle a LA Vanille
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the base
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a saucepan, heat the milk and butter until melted.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt.
Gradually add the warm milk mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring constantly.
Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
Separate the egg yolks and whites.
Beat the yolks and fold them into the mixture.
Fold in the whites and bake
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
Pour the mixture into a greased soufflé dish.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until puffed and golden.
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.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and vanilla 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
- Egg whites trapped in the batter expand with heat and give the soufflé its rise and airy structure.
- Flour
- Starch thickens the warm milk base so it can hold the whipped whites without collapsing.
- Milk
- Liquid that hydrates the flour and forms the custard-like base of the batter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps stabilize the whipped egg whites.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor to the milk base.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air only when whipped to stiff peaks. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air in the batter so the soufflé rises in the oven instead of deflating.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, sugar, butter, flour):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, sugar, butter, flour. 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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