Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Ratafia Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the base
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Stir in the flour and mix well.
Add the milk, stirring until the mixture is smooth and thick.
Let it cool slightly, then stir in the beaten egg yolks, lemon rind, and sugar.
Assemble and bake
Fold in the whipped egg whites until combined.
Layer the mixture with ratafias in a buttered pie dish or cake tin.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 45 minutes.
Serve
Serve immediately with stewed fruit.
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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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Eggs
- Whipped whites give the soufflé its light, risen structure, while yolks enrich the custard.
- Flour
- Cooked with butter and milk, it thickens the base so it holds the folded eggs.
- Butter
- Fat that enriches the base and adds a rich, tender texture.
- Milk
- Liquid that, with the flour, forms the thick custard base.
- Ratafias
- Almond cookies that add a crisp, aromatic layer within the soft mixture.
The step that matters
Fold in the whipped egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air in the whites. Stirring them in harshly deflates the foam, so the soufflé bakes flat and dense instead of rising.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, butter, sugar, milk, almond):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, butter, sugar, milk, almond. 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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