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 ↓
Cheese Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the base
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until thickened.
Add the grated cheese, mustard, salt, and cayenne, stirring until the cheese melts.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Add the eggs
Beat the egg yolks and fold them into the cheese mixture.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 15 minutes.
Serve immediately.
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.
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Mustard + cheesetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Eggs
- Egg yolks enrich the base, and whipped whites trap air so the soufflé rises and sets light.
- Flour
- Cooked with butter, it forms a roux that thickens the milk into a stable base.
- Butter
- Fat that combines with the flour to start the roux and adds richness.
- Milk
- Liquid that, thickened with the roux, forms the body of the soufflé base.
- Grated cheese
- Adds savory flavor and fat, and melts into the base for a rich texture.
The step that matters
Fold the egg whites gently. Whipped egg whites hold the air that makes the soufflé rise. Vigorous stirring deflates the foam, so the soufflé bakes flat and dense.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, milk, cheese, flour):
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Chivefits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, milk, cheese, flour. 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.
More cheese soufflé recipes
You might also like
Macaroni and Cheese102 recipes
Cheese Making50 recipes
Cheese Fritters34 recipes
Cheese Omelette31 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.