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Dessert

Macaroni Souffle

A sweet macaroni soufflé made with milk, vanilla, eggs, and baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Macaroni Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA warm oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a warm oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the base

  1. Boil macaroni in sweetened milk with the vanilla stick until all the milk is absorbed.

  2. Remove the vanilla stick and let the mixture cool.

  3. Stir in the egg yolks until well combined.

Fold and bake

  1. Beat the egg whites with salt until stiff peaks form, then gently fold into the macaroni mixture.

  2. Pour the mixture into a greased souffle tin and bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.

Serve

  1. Serve with a napkin around it or in a paper souffle case, dusted with vanilla sugar.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Macaroni
Forms the bulk of the souffle and gives it a substantial, starchy body.
Sweetened milk
Cooked with the macaroni until absorbed, adding sweetness and moisture to the base.
Egg yolks
Enrich the base and add richness and tenderness to the set custard.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks to trap air, giving the souffle its light, risen texture.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whisked whites hold air that makes the souffle rise. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring or deflating the mixture leaves a dense, flat result.

“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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