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Potato Souffle

A baked potato-based soufflé made with flour, butter, cream, mashed potatoes, eggs, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Potato Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

  2. Add the flour and salt, and cook for 5 minutes.

  3. Gradually pour in the cream, stirring constantly until it thickens.

  4. Stir in the cold mashed potatoes and beaten egg yolks until well combined.

Bake

  1. Gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a buttered baking dish.

  3. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 30‑45 minutes, until firm.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  4. Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 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 into foam, they trap air that lifts the soufflé as it bakes.
Egg yolks
Enrich the base and help it set firm as the custard cooks.
Flour
Thickens the butter and cream into a stable white sauce that holds the potatoes.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, and thickens with the flour into a smooth base.
Mashed potatoes
Provide bulk and body, giving the soufflé a tender, substantial texture.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Whipped egg whites hold the air that makes a soufflé rise. Stirring them vigorously knocks out that air, so the result bakes flat and dense.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, cream, 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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