Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Vanilla Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prepare a souffle tin by greasing it with butter.
Make the base
In a saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the flour until smooth.
Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until thickened.
Remove from heat and mix in the sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla.
Bake and serve
Fold in the whipped egg whites gently until combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and cover with buttered paper.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes without opening the oven door for the first 20 minutes.
Serve immediately after baking.
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 into foam, they trap air that lifts the soufflé as it bakes.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the base and help it set into a custard-like structure when heated.
- Vienna flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth roux that gives the base body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens into a white sauce.
- Butter
- Enriches the base and adds flavour as it is melted with the flour.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the base and adds tenderness to the finished soufflé.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites gently. Whipped egg whites hold the air that makes the soufflé rise. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, so the soufflé bakes flat and dense.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, sugar, egg):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, sugar, 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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