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 ↓
Souffle Espagnole
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.
Make the base
In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the bread crumbs until slightly colored.
Add the sugar and boiling milk, and cook until the mixture thickens.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Assemble and bake
Whip the egg whites with vinegar until frothy.
Mix the egg yolks into the cooled mixture, then gently fold in the whipped egg whites.
Grease a mold with butter and sugar, then fill it with the mixture, leaving an inch from the top.
Place the mold in a hot water bath and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.
Serve
Carefully turn out of the mold and cover with whipped 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.
-
Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (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
- Egg whites
- Whipped to foam, they give the soufflé its light, airy structure as they set.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the base and help it set into a tender, custard-like texture.
- Bread crumbs
- Thicken the milk base and add body and a toasted flavor.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor to the base and helps greasing prevent sticking.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that thickens with the crumbs and sugar into a smooth custard.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold the air that makes the soufflé rise. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air from collapsing and gives a lighter, more even rise.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, bread, sugar, milk, egg, vinegar, sauce):
- Vanillathe original
- Figfits about as well
- Peachfits less well
- Applefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, bread, sugar, milk, egg, vinegar, sauce. 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.
You might also like
Bread Pudding153 recipes
Vanilla Ice Cream108 recipes
Soft Ginger Bread85 recipes
Orange Potato Bread80 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.