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Dessert

Petits Souffles Aux Epinards

A light spinach soufflé made with eggs, butter, cream, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Spinach and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,400 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Petits Souffles Aux Epinards

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the spinach

  1. Wash and pick the spinach leaves.

  2. Cook the spinach in boiling salted water for about 20 minutes until tender.

  3. Drain and plunge into cold water to cool, then press out all moisture and rub through a fine sieve.

Make the base

  1. In a stewpan, heat the butter, then add the spinach puree and season with cayenne and salt.

  2. Stir over heat until hot, then remove from heat and work in three egg yolks one at a time.

  3. Whip the cream and add it to the mixture when cool.

Bake and serve

  1. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them into the mixture.

  2. Prepare the souffle cases with buttered paper bands and fill them about three-quarters full with the mixture.

  3. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 15 minutes.

  4. Remove the bands and serve 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. Spinach + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

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

  3. Spinach + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Spinach
Provides the main bulk and green flavour, and its moisture must be pressed out so the soufflé holds its rise.
Eggs
Yolks enrich the base and whites, whipped to stiff peaks, lift the soufflé as it bakes and sets.
Butter
Enriches the spinach base with fat, adding richness and smooth texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, making the mixture softer and more tender when baked.

The step that matters

Fold the egg whites gently. Stiff whites hold the air that makes the soufflé rise. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, so the soufflé bakes flat and dense.

Swap the spinach

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

  1. Potatofits about as well
  2. Spinachthe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Capsicumfits about as well

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