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Dessert

Walnut Souffle

A sweet, airy dessert made from eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and walnuts, baked until puffed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Walnut Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the yolks of the eggs and granulated sugar for 15 to 20 minutes.

  2. Add the farina, powdered sugar, baking powder, and walnuts; mix well.

  3. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 to 40 minutes.

  2. Serve cold with sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla.

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

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

  2. Egg + walnuttop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,037 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + walnuttop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,147 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
Whipped whites trap air, giving the souffle its light, risen structure as the yolks add richness.
Farina
Starch that thickens the batter and gives the baked souffle a soft, set body.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the oven, helping the mixture rise and stay airy.
Walnuts
Add texture and a nutty flavor, with fat that adds richness to the crumb.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps stabilize the yolks as they are beaten.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. Whipped whites hold air that makes the souffle rise. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, so the batter bakes flat and dense instead of light.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):

  1. Pecansfits better
  2. Almondfits better
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against 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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