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Dessert

Souffle Vanilla

A baked vanilla souffle made with eggs, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Souffle Vanilla

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Separate the egg whites and yolks.

  2. Mix the yolks with powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla extract.

  3. Beat the egg whites until very light and fluffy.

Bake

  1. Grease an earthen dish with butter and pour in two-thirds of the yolk mixture.

  2. Bake in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

  3. After a few minutes, open the oven door to check if it has risen.

  4. Break open the top with a fork and pour in the remaining uncooked mixture.

  5. Close the oven door quickly and bake until golden brown.

  6. Check with a straw to see if it is done; it may bubble at the top.

Serve

  1. Serve with sugar and lemon.

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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Vanilla + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs
Whipped whites trap air and set into the soufflé's light, risen structure as they cook.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and dissolves into the yolks, adding body to the base mixture.
Vanilla extract
Adds aroma and flavour to the yolk mixture.

The step that matters

Close the oven door quickly and bake until golden brown.. Opening the oven drops its temperature and lets cool air in. A sudden temperature drop can stop the soufflé rising further or make it collapse, so keep the door opening brief.

“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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