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Cheese Soufflé, Good

A baked cheese soufflé made with flour, butter, milk, cream, eggs, Parmesan, English cheese, and optional mace or onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cheese Soufflé, Good

Oven, in the book's wordsA good oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the base

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

  2. In a bowl, mix the flours, salt, and cayenne.

  3. In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour mixture.

  4. Gradually add the milk and cream, stirring until smooth.

  5. Remove from heat and mix in the egg yolks and cheeses.

Fold and bake

  1. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Gently fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture.

  3. Pour the mixture into a prepared soufflé tin.

  4. Sprinkle the top with browned bread crumbs and dot with butter.

  5. Bake for 40-50 minutes until puffed and golden.

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

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

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

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

  3. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks, they trap air and make the soufflé rise and stay light.
Egg yolks
Enrich the base and help it set into a custard-like structure when baked.
All-purpose flour
Thickens the butter and milk mixture into a stable base that holds the rise.
Potato flour
Adds thickening power and a tender, delicate crumb to the base.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury flavour and body to the base.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, giving a softer, silkier texture.

The step that matters

Folding the egg whites into the cheese mixture. Overmixing knocks air out of the whipped whites, while undermixing leaves streaks. Gentle folding keeps the air bubbles that lift the soufflé as it bakes.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Asparagusfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Chivefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, milk, cream, pepper, egg, parmesan cheese. 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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