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Dessert

Chocolate Souffle

A light, baked dessert made with milk, sugar, chocolate, breadcrumbs, eggs, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Chocolate Souffle

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. Boil the milk, sugar, and chocolate together.

  2. Add the breadcrumbs and butter, then let the mixture stand in a warm place for a few minutes.

  3. Allow the mixture to cool, then add the vanilla essence and the egg yolks.

Bake and serve

  1. Gently fold in the whipped egg whites.

  2. Pour into a well-buttered dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 20 minutes.

  3. Serve immediately after baking.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Eggs
Egg whites whipped and folded in create the airy lift that makes the souffle rise.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb the hot milk and chocolate to give the mixture body and a soft, tender crumb.
Milk
Liquid that dissolves the sugar and chocolate and hydrates the breadcrumbs into a smooth base.
Grated chocolate
Adds the main flavour and richness, and its fat helps give a smooth, velvety texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and softness, and greases the dish so the souffle releases cleanly.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the whipped egg whites. Egg whites hold air bubbles that give the souffle its rise. Stirring or deflating them vigorously knocks out that air, so the souffle bakes flat and dense. Fold slowly with a spatula, cutting through and turning the mixture, until just combined.

“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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