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Dessert

Chocolate Souffle'

A steamed chocolate souffle served with custard or another sweet sauce.

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

Chocolate Souffle'

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate base

  1. In a small saucepan, combine the milk and chocolate. Simmer gently until dissolved.

  2. Melt the butter in a separate pan, then stir in the flour. Add the chocolate mixture and bring to a boil.

  3. Let the mixture cool slightly, then add the vanilla, sugar, and egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Bake and serve

  1. Gently fold in the stiffly whisked egg whites.

  2. Pour the mixture into a well‑buttered mold and steam gently for 45 to 50 minutes.

  3. Serve with custard or another sweet sauce.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

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

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

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Egg whites
Whisked and folded in, they trap air and give the soufflé its light, risen structure.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the base, setting firmly during cooking.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk mixture so it holds up the soufflé base.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and, melted into the milk, colours the base.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the base and helps form the flour roux.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Stiffly whisked whites hold the air that lifts the soufflé. Folding gently keeps that air in, while stirring or overmixing deflates the batter and leaves 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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