Why it works: Corn and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Orange Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the base
Sprinkle the orange pieces with ⅔ cup of white sugar.
Prepare a custard by heating the sweet milk with the egg yolks and corn starch until thickened, then let it cool.
Pour the cooled custard over the oranges.
Make the meringue and bake
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add 1 cup of sugar and continue beating until glossy.
Spread the meringue over the custard and oranges.
Brown the meringue in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C).
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.
-
Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Orange + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Oranges
- Provide the fruit base and bright, sweet-tart flavor under the custard.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness through their proteins setting on heating.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into stiff foam that forms the light, airy meringue topping.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth custard as it heats.
- Sweet milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding body and creaminess.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the oranges and stabilizes the beaten egg white foam.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then add sugar until glossy. Egg whites must be fully whipped to hold air; sugar added gradually stabilizes the foam so the meringue stays glossy and does not collapse when spread and baked.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, corn, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, corn, 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.
More orange souffle recipes
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipes
Corn Cake90 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.