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Small Oyster Souffles

A light, airy dish of oysters, eggs, and breadcrumbs, baked until puffed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Small Oyster Souffles

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the oysters

  1. Blanch oysters and remove gills.

  2. Mince oysters coarsely.

Make the base

  1. Melt butter in a stewpan.

  2. Add flour and stir until cooked.

  3. Add hot milk and oyster liquor. Stir well.

  4. Season with salt and cayenne.

  5. Cook for 10 minutes before straining.

  6. Add minced oysters. Reheat.

  7. Gradually stir in egg yolks until they begin to set.

  8. Remove from heat.

Bake and serve

  1. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks.

  2. Gently mix egg whites with the preparation.

  3. Fill souffle cases three-quarters full.

  4. Sprinkle with fried breadcrumbs.

  5. Add a few drops of oiled butter.

  6. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 10 to 12 minutes.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

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

  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

Sauce oysters
Provide the main flavour and texture of the soufflé base.
Butter
Enriches the base and carries flavour through the roux.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a stable white sauce that holds the soufflé.
Milk
Forms the liquid body of the base that sets around the eggs.
Egg yolks
Enrich the base and help it set when gently heated.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air so the soufflé rises.

The step that matters

Gently mix egg whites with the preparation. Folding rather than stirring keeps the whipped egg white air intact. Overmixing deflates the foam, so the soufflé rises less 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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