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Cheese Souffle

A baked dish of layered bread and cheese, topped with an egg‑milk mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Butter the bottom of a baking dish.

Assemble

  1. Layer cheese, then bread slices, then cheese again, repeating until the dish is full.

  2. Finish with a light layer of cheese dotted with butter.

  3. In a bowl, beat the egg and mix in the milk, pepper, and salt.

  4. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the bread and cheese layers.

Bake

  1. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until set and golden.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg
Sets the custard and gives the soufflé its structure as it cooks.
Milk
Forms the liquid custard that soaks the bread and cheese and keeps them moist.
Cheese
Adds rich flavor and fat, and melts into the custard as it bakes.
Thin bread slices
Absorb the egg and milk custard, giving the dish body and a soft interior.

The step that matters

Baking until set. Egg proteins coagulate as the custard heats, so the dish is ready when it is just firm and golden. Overbaking can make the custard grainy and tough, while underbaking leaves it runny in the center.

“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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