Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Vanilla Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the base
Heat the milk in a double boiler over medium heat.
Melt the butter, add the flour, and mix well.
Stir the flour mixture into the scalded milk until thick and smooth.
Beat the egg yolks, add the sugar, and beat until creamy.
Stir in the vanilla and combine with the mixture in the double boiler.
Bake and serve
Remove from heat and beat the egg whites until very stiff.
Carefully fold the egg whites into the hot mixture.
Pour into a buttered pudding dish and bake at 300°F (150°C) for about 30 minutes.
Serve immediately with vanilla sauce.
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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
- Whites beaten stiff trap air for the lift, and yolks thicken and enrich the custard.
- Flour
- Cooked with butter and milk, it thickens the base so the mixture holds the folded whites.
- Butter
- Melted with the flour to form a roux that thickens the milk and adds richness.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens and the eggs set into.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and adds body to the beaten yolks.
The step that matters
Carefully fold the egg whites into the hot mixture. Folding gently keeps the air beaten into the stiff whites. Stirring or deflating them makes the soufflé heavy and flat, so the whites must be incorporated slowly and evenly.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, flour, butter, egg):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, flour, butter, egg. 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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