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Savoury Souffles, Salisbury Style

A baked savory souffle made with minced game meat, ham, butter, flour, milk, eggs, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Savoury Souffles, Salisbury Style

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 the filling

  1. Mince the game meat and remove skin and bones.

  2. Add the finely chopped ham to the minced game.

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour to make a roux.

  2. Gradually add the milk, stirring until thickened.

  3. Remove from heat and mix in the game and ham.

  4. Beat the egg yolks and add to the mixture, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Bake

  1. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Gently fold the egg whites into the game mixture.

  3. Pour into a greased baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) until puffed 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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 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

Eggs
Whipped whites trap air that lifts the mixture, while yolks add richness and set structure.
Butter
Fat enriches the roux and adds flavour and a tender texture to the base.
Flour
Starch in the roux thickens the milk into a stable base that holds the egg foam.
Milk
Liquid that, thickened with flour, forms the creamy body of the soufflé.
Game meat
Provides the main savoury flavour and substance of the soufflé.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold the air that makes the soufflé rise. Stirring them in vigorously knocks out the air, so fold gently until just combined to keep the rise.

“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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