Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Apple Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the rice base
Boil the milk with the lemon rind until well flavored, then strain it.
Add the rice to the milk and let it swell over low heat, adding sugar to sweeten.
Crush the rice to a smooth pulp with a wooden spoon.
Line the bottom and sides of a round baking dish with the rice mixture and set it in the oven to firm up.
Make the filling
Mix the apple marmalade with the beaten egg yolks and butter, stirring over heat until thickened.
Remove from heat and fold in the beaten egg whites until combined.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into the rice border and bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for about 1 hour, or until the souffle rises light.
Serve immediately to prevent it from falling.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + appletop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Rice + appletop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,311 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Forms a smooth, firm border that holds the soufflé shape as it rises.
- Eggs
- Whites trap air for lift and light structure; yolks enrich and thicken the filling.
- Milk
- Provides moisture and body for the rice base and the custard-like filling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and smooth texture to the thickened filling.
- Apple marmalade
- Supplies fruit flavor and sweetness to the filling.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. Egg whites hold air bubbles that make the soufflé rise. Overmixing or deflating them during folding leaves the batter dense, and the soufflé will not rise light.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, lemon, sugar, egg, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, lemon, sugar, egg, butter. 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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