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Potato Souffle

A baked potato dish folded with beaten egg whites for a light, airy texture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Potato Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the base

  1. Boil the potatoes until tender, then pass them through a sieve.

  2. Scald the milk.

  3. Add the milk to the potatoes along with the butter, salt, and pepper, and beat until creamy.

  4. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.

Add the whites and bake

  1. In a separate bowl, add a small pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat until stiff peaks form.

  2. Gently fold the egg whites into the potato mixture, being careful not to deflate them.

  3. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered baking dish and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.

  4. Serve immediately with meats that have gravies.

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.

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

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

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the starchy bulk that gives the soufflé its body and soft, fluffy crumb.
Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks, they trap air and make the soufflé rise and lighten.
Egg yolks
Enrich the base with fat and emulsifiers, adding richness and a smoother set.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the mashed potato base.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.

The step that matters

Fold the egg whites gently. Whipped whites hold the air that makes the soufflé rise. Stirring or pressing them hard releases that air, so the dish bakes flat and dense instead of light.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, pepper, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Chivefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, pepper, egg. 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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