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 ↓
Souffl^
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Separate the whites from the yolks of the eggs in deep dishes.
Beat the whites until stiff and dry.
Beat the yolks with the milk and a little salt.
Stir the stiff whites into the yolks.
Cook and serve
Heat the lard (or lard and butter) in an omelet or frying pan.
Pour in the mixture and cook gently until stiff.
Invert onto a dish to serve hot.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whites trap air when beaten, giving the soufflé its light, risen structure, while yolks add richness.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and softness to the yolk base, keeping the mixture tender when cooked.
- Lard
- Fat for the pan that gives the underside a rich, golden browning and keeps it from sticking.
The step that matters
Stir the stiff whites into the yolks. Whites hold air only when beaten stiff, so folding them in gently keeps the bubbles intact. Stirring vigorously deflates the foam, leaving a dense, flat result.
“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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