Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Soufflé
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the base
Boil the milk with sugar and flavor to taste.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks and flour.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the boiling milk, stirring well to thicken.
Prepare and bake
For a soufflé for two, use two spoonfuls of this mixture and fold in the beaten egg whites.
Butter a soufflé pan and dust it with sugar.
Fill the pan to the edge and place it in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
Gloss the soufflé from time to time and serve.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help thicken the base as they set with heat.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk mixture so it can hold the risen egg white foam.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to foam, they trap air that lifts the soufflé as it bakes.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the thickened custard is built on.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and, dusted in the pan, helps the soufflé climb the walls.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Stirring the whites in vigorously deflates the foam that gives the soufflé its lift. Fold gently so the air bubbles stay trapped in the batter.
“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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