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Dessert

Vanilla Souffle

A light custard-based dessert flavored with vanilla, thickened with gelatin and finished with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 ↓

Vanilla Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Bring the milk, sugar, and vanilla pod to a boil, then simmer gently until flavored.

  2. Beat the egg yolks slightly, then strain the boiling milk over them while stirring vigorously.

  3. Return the mixture to the heat and stir until it thickens.

  4. Dissolve the gelatine in ½ cup of water and add it to the custard.

Finish and set

  1. Once cool, fold in the whipped cream.

  2. Chill in the refrigerator until set.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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 yolks
Thicken the custard as they cook and add richness to the set dessert.
Gelatine
Sets the custard so the soufflé holds its shape when chilled.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and lightness when whipped and folded in.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, carrying the vanilla flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the yolks and cream.

The step that matters

Stirring the yolks into the hot milk. Pouring boiling milk onto yolks while stirring vigorously tempers them, so the eggs warm gradually instead of scrambling. Gentle, continuous stirring keeps the custard smooth before it thickens.

“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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