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 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the apple base
Stew the apples and mix in the grated lemon peel and lemon juice.
Line the sides and bottom of a baking dish with the apple mixture, about 2 inches thick.
Make the custard
In a saucepan, make a custard by heating the milk and whisking in the eggs until combined; let it cool.
Pour the cooled custard into the center of the dish.
Top and bake
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and spread them over the top of the custard.
Sprinkle sugar over the egg whites and bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for a few minutes.
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.
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Apple + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Form the base layer and provide moisture and fruity flavor under the custard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it a soft, creamy texture.
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving it structure and body.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they create a light, airy topping that puffs and browns in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the topping and helps the egg white surface brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites must be whipped until stiff enough to hold air. Underbeaten whites collapse and fail to give the topping its light texture, while overbeaten whites turn grainy and dry.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, milk, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Figfits better
- 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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