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 ↓
Eice Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the base
In a saucepan, combine 1 cup of milk with 4 ounces of rice flour until smooth.
Bring the remaining milk to a boil, then stir in the rice mixture and 2 ounces of sugar.
Boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and add 2 ounces of butter and the grated lemon rind.
Gradually mix in the yolks of 6 eggs and a pinch of salt.
Bake and serve
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the mixture.
Pour the mixture into a soufflé pan and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 minutes.
Serve immediately.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Flour + buttertop 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).
Flour and butter 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and make the soufflé rise and become light.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help set the custard-like base as it bakes.
- Rice flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth base that holds the risen structure.
- Milk or cream
- Provides the liquid that the rice flour thickens into a creamy base.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rich, tender texture and smooth mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Fold the whipped egg whites gently. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whites intact. Those bubbles expand in the oven and lift the soufflé, so deflating them by overmixing leads to a flat result.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, rice, flour, sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, rice, flour, sugar, butter, 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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