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 says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the base
Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
Stir in the flour and milk, cooking until boiling.
Add the white pepper, salt, and cayenne, then remove from heat.
Mix in the egg yolks and grated cheese until well combined.
Fold and cook
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them into the mixture.
Pour the mixture into a greased omelette pan and cook over low heat for 1 minute.
Transfer the pan to a 400°F (200°C) oven for 5 minutes.
Serve
Quickly turn the soufflé out onto a hot platter, fold it, and 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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air that lifts and gives the soufflé its light texture.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the base and add richness and structure as they set with heat.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and milk into a stable base that holds the air from the whites.
- Grated cheese
- Adds savory flavor and fat, and helps the base set as it cooks.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid of the white sauce base, giving it body and moisture.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites gently. Stiff whites hold trapped air that makes the soufflé rise. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, so the soufflé falls and turns dense instead of light.
Swap the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, cheese, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Capersfits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, cheese, egg. 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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