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Souffle Potatoes

A baked potato dish folded with egg yolk, cheese, butter, béchamel, and whipped egg white.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Souffle Potatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Bake the potatoes

  1. Wash and scrub the potatoes without peeling them.

  2. Bake the potatoes on a baking sheet in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about an hour.

  3. Cut the cooked potatoes in half and scoop out the insides.

  4. Pass the potato insides through a fine sieve.

Make the soufflé mixture

  1. Mix in the egg yolk, grated cheese, butter, béchamel sauce, pepper, and salt.

  2. Fold in the whipped egg white with a pinch of salt.

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. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Potato + cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together959 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Potatoes
Form the fluffy, starchy base that gives the soufflé its body.
Egg yolk
Adds richness and helps bind the mixture smoothly.
Egg white
Whipped to trap air, which lifts and lightens the soufflé.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and flavor.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and some browning at the surface.
Béchamel sauce
Adds moisture and body, keeping the mixture creamy.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped egg white. Whites must be whipped to soft peaks and folded gently so the air is kept. Overmixing deflates the foam, and the soufflé will rise less and turn dense.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cheese, butter, sauce, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cheese, butter, sauce, pepper. 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.

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