Skip to main content
Main

Souffle of Whiting

A light fish soufflé made with whiting, butter, flour, milk, eggs, and seasoned with pepper, salt, and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Souffle of Whiting

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.

Make the base

  1. Pound the whiting meat in a mortar until smooth.

  2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat.

  3. Add flour to the melted butter and cook without browning.

  4. Stir in the fish stock and milk, cooking for 10 minutes on low heat.

  5. Remove from heat and beat in the egg yolks one at a time.

  6. Mix in the pounded whiting and season with pepper, salt, and cayenne.

Add the whites and bake

  1. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks with a pinch of salt, then fold into the mixture.

  2. Prepare a well-buttered souffle tin with a band of stiff paper around it, extending 2 inches above the tin.

  3. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and sprinkle the top with browned bread crumbs.

  4. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the paper, wrap a folded napkin or fancy paper around the tin, and garnish with chopped parsley.

  2. Serve immediately to prevent sinking.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Whiting
Provides the main fish flesh, giving the soufflé its savoury body and delicate flavour.
Eggs
Whites trapped in the mixture rise and set on baking, giving the soufflé its light structure.
Butter
Enriches the base and adds richness and flavour to the thickened sauce.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk mixture into a stable base that holds the whipped whites.
Milk
Adds moisture and body to the base, softening the texture when cooked.
Fish stock
Adds liquid and savoury depth that complements the whiting.

The step that matters

Fold the egg whites gently. Whites hold air only while whipped to stiff peaks; vigorous stirring deflates them, and the soufflé then rises poorly and may collapse.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (whiting, fish, butter, flour, egg, milk, bread):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Cinnamonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against whiting, fish, butter, flour, egg, milk, bread. 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.

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesFried FishFried Fish120 recipesFish CroquettesFish Croquettes81 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipes