Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pbune 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
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the souffle
Beat the egg whites until very stiff.
Combine the prunes and sugar with the beaten egg whites.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake and serve
Bake for 15 minutes.
Serve with cream.
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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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Beaten until stiff, they trap air and give the souffle its light, risen structure.
- Prunes
- Cooked and sifted, they add moisture and a dense, fruity flavour to the mixture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and helps stabilise the beaten egg white foam.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites until very stiff. Under-beaten whites collapse easily and cannot hold the air that lifts the souffle. Over-beaten whites turn grainy and dry, so they fold poorly. Stiff, glossy peaks give the best rise.
“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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