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Hot Cheese Souffle or Fondue

A baked cheese soufflé made with butter, flour, milk, eggs, Parmesan, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Hot Cheese Souffle or Fondue

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°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 mix to a smooth paste.

  3. Stir in the milk and cook over medium heat until it boils.

  4. Cook thoroughly, then remove from heat.

Make the soufflé

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Add the beaten yolks to the mixture when slightly cool.

  3. Stir in the cheese, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

  4. Fold in the egg whites gently.

  5. Pour the mixture into a prepared baking dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes or until firm on top.

  2. Serve immediately, as it will fall quickly.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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
Whipped whites trap air for lift, while yolks enrich the base and help set it.
Butter
Fat that enriches the base and carries flavour into the roux.
Flour
Forms a roux with the butter that thickens the milk into a stable base.
Milk
Liquid that the flour thickens into a smooth sauce base for the soufflé.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury, salty flavour and richness to the base.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Whites hold air only when their foam is stiff and unbroken. Overmixing deflates the foam, and the soufflé then rises poorly and falls quickly in the oven.

“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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