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 ↓
Strawberry Souffle
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 the base
Pass the strawberries through a fine sieve to make a pulp.
Sweeten the pulp with castor sugar.
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Stir in the flour.
Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil.
Incorporate the sugar and strawberry pulp into the mixture.
Beat in the egg yolks one at a time.
Add a few drops of carmine for color.
Finish and bake
Gently fold in the diced strawberries.
Whisk the egg whites stiffly and fold them into the mixture.
Pour the mixture into a well-buttered mold.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 35 to 40 minutes.
Serve
Serve with a suitable fruit syrup or sweet sauce.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Strawberry + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter 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
- Whipped stiff, they trap air and give the souffle its light, risen structure.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the base and help it set into a tender, custard-like texture when baked.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and milk base so it can hold the whipped egg whites and strawberries.
- Strawberries
- Provide the main flavor, sweetness and moisture of the souffle.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, and is melted with the flour to start the base.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites. Whipped egg whites hold the air that makes a souffle rise. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring or deflating the batter causes a flat, dense result.
Swap the strawberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, butter, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Strawberrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, butter, egg, milk. 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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