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Souffle Au Parmesan

A baked Parmesan soufflé made with butter, water, flour, egg yolks, egg whites, and grated Parmesan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Souffle Au Parmesan

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the base

  1. Combine the butter, water, pepper, salt, and sugar in a small saucepan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil and remove from heat.

  3. Stir in the flour vigorously over low heat until the mixture detaches from the sides of the saucepan.

  4. Transfer the mixture to a bowl.

  5. Let it cool slightly while stirring with a wooden spoon.

Finish and bake

  1. Mix in the egg yolks, grated Parmesan, and small pieces of butter gradually, stirring continuously.

  2. Fold in the whipped egg whites gently.

  3. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered tin.

  4. Place the tin on a wire rack in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

  5. Bake for 25 minutes or until the souffle is 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 + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 yolks
Add richness and emulsify the base, giving a tender, custard-like crumb.
Egg whites
Whipped and folded in, they trap air that lifts and gives the soufflé its rise.
Flour
Cooked with the butter and water into a paste that gives the soufflé structure.
Parmesan
Adds savoury flavour and fat, and helps the top brown as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat and flavour, and enriches the texture of the base.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whites intact. Stirring or deflating them makes the soufflé rise less and turn dense.

“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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