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Dessert

Potato Souffle

A baked dish of mashed potatoes folded with eggs and milk, rising into a light, airy top.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Potato Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Beat the mashed potatoes until creamy.

  2. Add the beaten egg yolks and melted butter, then season with salt, pepper, and onion juice.

  3. Gradually whip in the milk.

Bake and serve

  1. Fold in the frothed egg whites gently.

  2. Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish.

  3. Cover and bake until it rises well, then uncover to brown.

  4. Serve immediately as it will fall and settle 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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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, and whipped whites trap air so the souffle rises.
Mashed potatoes
Provide the body and starchy structure that holds the light mixture together.
Rich milk
Adds moisture and richness, loosening the potato base for folding.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Whipped whites hold the air that makes the souffle rise. Stirring or deflating them vigorously knocks out air, leaving a dense result instead of a light, risen one.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, egg, butter, pepper, milk):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, egg, butter, pepper, milk. 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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