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Dessert

Souffle, Simple

A light, airy soufflé made with milk, flour, butter, brandy, egg yolks, and beaten egg whites, topped with jam.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Souffle, Simple

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.

Make the base

  1. Sweeten and flavor the milk with lemon or vanilla.

  2. Boil the milk.

  3. Quickly stir in the flour mixed with another ½ pint of milk.

  4. Add the butter.

  5. Move the saucepan off the heat.

  6. Stir until thickened.

  7. Pour the mixture into a basin.

  8. Let it cool slightly.

  9. Add the brandy.

  10. Add the beaten egg yolks.

Prepare the dish

  1. Butter a cake tin or deep pie dish.

  2. Spread a layer of jam at the bottom of the dish.

  3. Beat the egg whites to a firm froth.

  4. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter.

  5. Fill it halfway with the batter.

  6. Pour the batter into the dish.

  7. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for about 25 minutes until risen, browned, and firm.

  2. Serve immediately to avoid spoilage.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  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

Milk
Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens into a smooth custard.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a stable base that holds the risen egg whites.
Egg yolks
Enrich the base and add richness and colour to the batter.
Egg whites
Whipped to a firm froth, they trap air and make the soufflé rise.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the base and greases the dish.

The step that matters

Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter. Folging gently keeps the air bubbles in the whites intact. Stirring or beating them in deflates the batter, so the soufflé rises less and turns dense.

“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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