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Dessert

Petits Souffles Glaces a I’Ecarlate

A chilled soufflé made from ox‑tongue, tomato, brown sauce, and gelatin, colored with cochineal.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,787 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Petits Souffles Glaces a I’Ecarlate

8 small souffle cases

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Chop the shallot finely.

  2. Sauté the shallot in a saucepan with the sherry until reduced slightly.

  3. Add the sliced tomato, brown sauce, and bouquet garni.

  4. Cook together for 10 minutes.

  5. Strain the mixture.

  6. Dissolve the gelatine.

  7. Mix the dissolved gelatine with the hot sauce.

Make the purée

  1. Cut the ox‑tongue into small pieces.

  2. Pound the pieces in a mortar until smooth.

  3. Add some of the sauce and cream. Mix well.

  4. Strain through a fine sieve.

  5. Whisk the mixture in a cold place until it becomes spongy.

  6. Fold in the purée.

  7. Season to taste.

  8. Color with cochineal.

Fill and freeze

  1. Fill the souffle cases about half an inch above the paper bands.

  2. Freeze in an ice cream maker for about an hour.

  3. Garnish with decorative cuts of truffle or egg white.

  4. Cover with a layer of aspic.

  5. Return to the freezer.

  6. Remove the paper bands.

  7. Sprinkle the sides with breadcrumbs.

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. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Shallot + tomatotop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together583 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Shallot + saucetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sauce + tomatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,469 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Shallot + truffletop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together352 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Ox-tongue
Provides the main savoury body and flavour of the frozen mousse.
Gelatine
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when frozen and unmoulded.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, light texture to the purée.
Brown sauce
Supplies the concentrated savoury base and colour of the mixture.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the sauce base.

The step that matters

Whisk in a cold place until spongy. The mixture must be whisked cold so it traps air and thickens into a light, spongy texture; if it is warm or overworked, the air escapes and the frozen result turns dense.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, sauce, cream, truffle, sherry):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, sauce, cream, truffle, sherry. 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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