Why it works: Cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cheese Soufflé
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the base
In a bowl, mix the grated cheese, flour, butter, salt, and red pepper.
Add the egg yolks and mix until combined.
Bake
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Pour the mixture into a buttered dish and bake until puffed and golden, about 25-30 minutes.
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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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Walnut + peppertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,039 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cheese + walnuttop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together410 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Eggs
- Egg yolks enrich the base, while beaten whites trap air that lifts the soufflé as it bakes.
- Cheese
- Provides rich flavour and fat, and helps give the set custard body.
- Flour
- Thickens the cheese base so it can hold the air from the whites.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour to the base and helps prevent sticking in the dish.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Beaten whites hold air bubbles that make the soufflé rise. Stirring them in vigorously knocks out that air, so the soufflé rises less and may turn out dense. Fold gently and keep the mixture airy.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, flour, butter, pepper, egg):
- Almondfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
- Beansfits about as well
- Chestnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, flour, 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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