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Potato Souffle

A baked dish of mashed potatoes, cream, eggs, and butter, folded into a light, airy soufflé.

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.

  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.

Fold and bake

  1. Gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a buttered baking dish.

  3. Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven 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 air gives the souffle its light, risen structure as it bakes.
Egg yolks
They enrich the base and help it set into a firm, custard-like texture.
Flour
Cooked with butter, it thickens the cream into a stable base.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, making the base smooth and tender.
Mashed potatoes
Provide body and a soft, starchy texture to the souffle.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air only when whipped stiff; overmixing deflates them and loses the rise. Fold gently so the air stays trapped and the souffle bakes up light.

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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