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Souffle De Merluche Fume

A baked soufflé made with smoked haddock, butter, eggs, cream, pepper, salt, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Haddock and cream work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 181 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Souffle De Merluche Fume

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the fish

  1. Scald and flake the haddock, removing skin and bones.

  2. Pound the fish with 1 ounce of butter in a mortar until smooth.

  3. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve into a basin.

Make the soufflé

  1. Add egg yolks one by one, mixing well after each addition.

  2. Gently fold in whipped cream, pepper, salt, and nutmeg.

  3. Whip egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them in lightly.

  4. Pour the mixture into a ramekin and bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 10 minutes.

  5. Serve very hot.

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. Haddock + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together181 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Haddock
Provides the smoky, savoury fish flavour that is the base of the soufflé.
Eggs
Yolks enrich the base and whites, whipped to stiff peaks, lift the mixture as it sets.
Butter
Pounded with the fish, it adds richness and a smooth, moist texture.
Cream
Folded in whipped, it adds moisture and lightness to the mixture.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air only when whipped to stiff peaks. Folding gently keeps that air in the mixture, so the soufflé rises in the oven instead of deflating.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Capersfits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, butter, egg, pepper, cream. 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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