Skip to main content
Main

Souffles De Jambon En Casseroles

A chilled ham soufflé served in small silver casseroles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Souffles De Jambon En Casseroles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham base

  1. Cut the ham into small slices and pound until smooth in a mortar.

  2. Gradually add the Madeira sauce, mix well, and rub through a fine sieve.

Build the mousse

  1. Melt the aspic and whisk it over ice until it begins to set, then stir into the ham mixture.

  2. Season to taste with pepper, nutmeg, and mace.

  3. Whip the cream until stiff and fold it into the mixture.

  4. Continue whisking for a few minutes, then fill small silver casseroles.

Chill and serve

  1. Place a star-shaped slice of tongue on top of each casserole.

  2. Chill in an ice cabinet for about 2 hours before serving.

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. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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

Cooked lean ham
Provides the main savoury flavour and the body of the mousse.
Rich madeira sauce
Adds depth and a rich, slightly sweet flavour to the ham base.
Aspic jelly
Sets when chilled, giving the mousse its firm, sliceable structure.
Cream
Whipped to stiffness, it adds air and a light, smooth texture.

The step that matters

Whisking the aspic over ice. Aspic must be chilled only until it just begins to set. If it sets fully before folding, it forms lumps and the mousse loses its smooth texture; if it stays liquid, the mousse will not firm up when chilled.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, sauce, cream, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Clovefits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, sauce, cream, pepper, nutmeg. 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

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes