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Dessert

Cheese Souffle

A baked cheese soufflé made with Parmesan, egg whites, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Grease a soufflé dish with clarified butter and wrap a well-buttered piece of paper around it for support.

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour, then add the milk and bring to a boil.

  2. Remove from heat, mix in the egg yolk, and stir in the cheese and seasonings.

Bake and serve

  1. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then gently fold them into the cheese mixture.

  2. Pour the mixture into the prepared soufflé dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

  3. Serve immediately in the dish, optionally wrapped in a warmed napkin.

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. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Egg whites
Whisked until stiff, they trap air that lifts the soufflé as it bakes.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and richness to the base.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a sauce that holds the soufflé together.
Egg yolk
Enriches the base and helps set the structure as it bakes.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens into a smooth sauce.

The step that matters

Folding the egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whisked whites intact. Stirring or deflating them makes the soufflé rise poorly 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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