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Dessert

Veal Souffle

A baked veal soufflé made with milk, onion, parsley, bay leaf, butter, flour, bread crumbs, eggs, and veal.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Veal Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the base

  1. Scald the milk with the onion, parsley, and bay leaf, then remove the seasonings.

  2. Melt the butter, add the flour, and then stir in the milk.

  3. Add the bread crumbs and cook for 2 minutes, then remove from heat.

Combine and bake

  1. Stir in the chopped veal and beaten egg yolks.

  2. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

  3. Turn the mixture into a buttered baking dish and bake at 300°F (150°C) for 25 to 30 minutes.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Egg whites
Whipped air bubbles give the soufflé its light, risen structure.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help set the custard-like base as it bakes.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a white sauce that holds the mixture together.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the white sauce, adding moisture and softness.
Cooked veal
Provides the main savory flavor and body of the soufflé.
Bread crumbs
Soak up liquid and add tenderness to the mixture.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. Egg white foam traps air that makes the soufflé rise. Vigorous stirring knocks out those bubbles, so the soufflé bakes flat and dense.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, parsley, butter, flour, bread, veal, egg):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, parsley, butter, flour, bread, veal, 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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