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Dessert

Strawberry Souffle

A chilled dessert made from strawberry pulp, lemon jelly, and egg whites set in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Strawberry and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,206 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Strawberry Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mold

  1. Cover the strawberry pulp.

  2. Let it sit for 1 hour.

  3. Coat a mold with a thin layer of lemon jelly.

  4. Decorate with whole strawberries, securing them with more jelly.

Make the mixture

  1. In a saucepan, dissolve gelatine in 1 pint of water.

  2. Add the strawberry mixture and lemon juice to the dissolved gelatine.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

  4. Stir in the egg whites.

  5. Whisk until boiling.

  6. Strain through a jelly bag or cloth until clear.

Set and chill

  1. When the mixture is cold and starting to set, pour it into the prepared mold.

  2. Chill in ice or a cool place until firm.

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. Strawberry + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,206 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  3. Strawberry + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,509 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Lemon and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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 into the mixture to add lightness and help give the soufflé its airy structure.
Gelatine (in the method)
Sets the liquid mixture so it holds its shape when chilled and unmoulded.
Strawberry pulp
Provides the main strawberry flavour and moisture in the soufflé.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the strawberry flavour.

The step that matters

Whisk until boiling, then strain until clear. Whisking the egg whites into a hot mixture and bringing it to a boil cooks the whites, which sets them and helps the foam hold. Straining then removes solids so the set is clear and smooth.

Swap the strawberry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, egg):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Strawberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, egg. 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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