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Dessert

Milan Souffle

A chilled lemon cream souffle made with double cream, gelatin, sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice and zest.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Milan Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a saucepan over low heat until creamy, without boiling.

  2. Stir in the lemon rind and juice, then set aside to cool.

  3. Soak the gelatine in a little cold water, then heat until dissolved and strain.

Assemble and chill

  1. Whip the cream until stiff, then add the gelatine and gently fold in the egg mixture.

  2. Transfer to a silver or china souffle dish and chill in the refrigerator for about 2 hours before serving.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Double cream
Whipped to stiff peaks, it gives the soufflé its light, airy body.
Gelatine
Sets the mixture as it chills, so the soufflé holds its shape when served.
Egg yolks
Thicken the base and add richness and structure as they are gently heated.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the base and helps the egg yolks become smooth and creamy when whisked.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the eggs and cream.

The step that matters

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar over low heat without boiling. Egg yolks thicken gently at moderate heat but scramble if they boil, leaving lumps and a grainy texture instead of a smooth custard base.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Strawberryfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, 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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