Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Souffle De Russe
Ingredients
Directions
Make the milk base
Dissolve the gelatine in 1 pint of milk.
Sweeten and flavor the mixture to taste.
Boil the milk and gelatine mixture.
Beat, fold and set
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Beat the egg yolks with a little sugar.
Remove the milk and gelatine from heat, stir in the egg yolks and sugar.
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.
Pour the mixture into a mold lined with sponge cake if desired.
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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the rest of the dessert is built on.
- Gelatine
- Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when chilled.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and make the dessert light.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the mixture and add richness and body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and balances the flavor.
The step that matters
Remove the milk and gelatine from heat before stirring in the egg yolks. Yolks are delicate and can scramble or turn grainy if added to very hot liquid. Letting the mixture cool slightly first lets the yolks blend smoothly. Gentle folding of the whites then keeps the air from the whipped whites in the finished dessert.
“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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