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Dessert

Apple Souffle

A baked apple custard topped with beaten egg whites and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,104 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Apple Souffle

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.

Prepare the filling

  1. Stew the apples.

  2. Mix in lemon peel and juice.

  3. Line the sides and bottom of a baking dish with the apple mixture, about 2 inches thick.

Make the custard

  1. Whisk together the milk and eggs to make a custard.

  2. Let the custard cool.

  3. Pour the custard into the center of the dish.

Top and bake

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Spread the beaten egg whites over the top.

  3. Sprinkle sugar on top.

  4. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until browned.

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. Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  2. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Stewed apples
Forms the base layer and supplies moisture and the main fruit flavor.
Eggs
Set the custard and, whipped into peaks, give the top its light, airy structure.
Milk
Provides moisture and softness to the custard so it bakes tender.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the apples.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the top brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Whites beaten to stiff peaks trap air that lifts the topping as it bakes. Under-beaten whites stay flat and dense, while over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy and collapse.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, milk, egg, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, milk, egg, sugar. 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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