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Dessert

Souffle Pudding

A light, airy custard-like dessert made with eggs, milk, cornflour, and sugar, 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 ↓

Souffle Pudding

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 custard base

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until thick and foamy.

  4. Mix the cornflour with a little milk, then pour into a saucepan with the remaining milk.

  5. Add the butter, salt, and essence, then bring to a boil while stirring.

  6. Boil for 3-4 minutes, then mix in the egg yolk mixture until well combined.

Bake and serve

  1. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

  2. Pour the batter into a lightly buttered pie dish.

  3. Bake for about 30 minutes until set and lightly golden.

  4. Serve immediately with a sweet sauce of your choice.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Sugar and vanilla 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

Eggs
Egg whites give the pudding its airy lift, while yolks add richness and help it set.
Cornflour
Cooked with milk, it thickens the base so the batter holds its shape before baking.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the thickened custard, adding moisture and softness.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich, tender texture and mouthfeel.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps the yolks whip to a thick, foamy texture.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Egg whites hold air from whipping. Folding gently keeps that air in the batter, so the pudding rises and stays light instead of deflating into a dense 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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