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Dessert

Cheese Souffle

A light, baked cheese soufflé made with Parmesan, egg whites, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Grease a souffle dish with clarified butter and wrap a well-buttered piece of paper around it for support.

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour, then add the milk and bring to a boil.

  2. Remove from heat, mix in the egg yolks, and stir in the cheese along with seasoning.

Bake and serve

  1. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the cheese mixture.

  2. Pour the mixture into the prepared souffle dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

  3. Serve immediately in the dish, wrapped in a warmed napkin if not using an outer case.

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

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

  2. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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
Whisked to stiff peaks, they trap air and lift the soufflé as it bakes.
Egg yolks
Enrich the base and help it set into a rich, custard-like texture.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury flavour and body to the base.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a stable base that holds the air bubbles.
Milk
Forms the liquid of the white sauce that carries the other ingredients.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the base through its fat.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites must be whisked to stiff peaks and folded in gently. Overmixing knocks out the trapped air, so the soufflé will rise less and may fall flat.

“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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