Name: Milanaise Souffle
Ingredients: 2 small eggs; 2 oz castor sugar; 1 lemon (zest and juice); ½ cup cream (for mixing); ½ cup cream (for decoration); 1½ oz gelatine; ½ cup water; Chopped pistachios; Violets (for decoration)

Why it works: Lemon and pistachio match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 431 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Milanaise Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Prepare a china soufflé case with a band of paper tied firmly around it.

Make the custard

Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar, lemon zest, and juice over hot water until thick.
Whisk the mixture until cool.

Set and decorate

Fold in the whipped cream, stiffly beaten egg whites, and dissolved gelatine.
Pour the mixture into the soufflé case and let it set.
Gently remove the paper and decorate with whipped cream, chopped pistachios, and violets.

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.

Lemon + pistachiotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together431 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Cream + pistachiotop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together634 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together44,316 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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 thicken the base and whites, beaten stiff, give the soufflé its light, airy structure.
Cream: Whipped cream adds richness and a light, mousse-like texture to the set soufflé.
Gelatine: Dissolved gelatine sets the mixture so it holds its shape when the paper is removed.
Castor sugar: Sugar sweetens the base and helps the yolks whisk to a thick, stable foam.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped cream, egg whites and gelatine. Egg whites and cream trap air that gives the soufflé its lightness. Overmixing deflates them, while gelatine added when too hot or too cold may not set evenly, so fold gently and keep the gelatine just liquid.