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 Souffles
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the base
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Stir in the flour until well combined.
Gradually add a small amount of milk and the cheese, stirring over low heat until it thickens to a cream-like consistency, without boiling.
Add white pepper and mix thoroughly; add salt if needed.
Continue stirring over moderate heat for about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool, stirring occasionally.
Finish and bake
Once cool, stir in the beaten yolks mixed with a little milk and strained.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Half-fill paper cases with the mixture and bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 15 minutes.
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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Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,163 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 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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Milk + parmesan cheesetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,608 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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
- Eggs (whites)
- Whipped whites trap air, lifting the soufflé as it bakes and giving it a light texture.
- Eggs (yolks)
- Yolks add richness and, when cooked into the base, help set the soufflé's structure.
- Flour
- Flour thickens the butter and milk mixture, giving the base body so it holds the air.
- Parmesan cheese
- Adds savory flavor and some body to the base, and helps brown the surface.
- Butter
- Fat that enriches the base and carries flavor into the roux.
- Milk
- Liquid that turns the roux into a smooth, cream-like base.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air only when whipped and folded in gently. Overmixing deflates the foam, so the soufflé rises poorly and turns dense.
Swap the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, parmesan cheese, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Capersfits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, parmesan cheese, 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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