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Souffle of Toasts

A savory soufflé made with pounded meat, marrow, eggs, and Parmesan, baked atop fried bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,533 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Souffle of Toasts

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 topping

  1. Pound the dressed meat, beef marrow, and egg yolks in a mortar until well combined.

Fry the toasts

  1. Fry slices of bread in boiling lard until golden brown.

Assemble and bake

  1. Spread the pounded mixture over the fried toasts.

  2. Beat the egg whites to a solid froth and spread over the mixture.

  3. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese and fine bread crumbs on top.

  4. Bake in a moderately heated oven at 350°F (175°C) until nicely colored.

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. Meat + beeftop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,533 recipes

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

  2. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Parmesan cheese + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together577 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Dressed meat of fowls or game
Provides the main body of the savory filling, giving it substance and flavor.
Beef marrow
Adds richness and fat, keeping the pounded filling moist and tender.
Egg yolks
Bind the pounded filling together and help it set smoothly when baked.
Egg whites
Whipped into a froth to create a light, airy top that puffs and rises in the oven.
Grated parmesan cheese
Melts and browns on the surface, adding savory flavor and golden color.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites to a solid froth. Egg whites must be whipped until they hold stiff peaks; underbeaten whites stay runny and won't give the light, airy topping the dish depends on, while overbeaten whites turn dry and grainy.

“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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