Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Pheasant Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the meat base
Heat the pounded meat in a saucepan with rich stock or gravy until hot, but do not boil.
Pass the mixture through a fine sieve.
Break pheasant bones into small pieces and stew them in a small amount of gravy.
Strain the gravy, then thicken it with flour and butter, stirring in a small amount of glaze.
Simmer the sauce until nearly thick, then stir in a lump of butter and grated nutmeg.
Add the pheasant puree, then beat in the egg yolks.
Bake and serve
Gently fold in the stiffly whisked egg whites, adding them in small quantities.
Pour the mixture into a souffle dish or cake tin and bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes.
Serve immediately; it will spoil if left to wait.
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.
-
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flour and butter 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
- Pounded meat
- Provides the main pheasant flavour and body for the souffle base.
- Flour
- Thickens the gravy into a stable sauce that holds the puree.
- Butter
- Adds richness and smooth texture to the thickened sauce.
- 4 egg yolks
- Enrich the base and help set the souffle as it cooks.
- 2 egg whites
- Whisked stiff and folded in, they lift the mixture and give the souffle its rise.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whisked whites hold air that makes the souffle rise. Folding gently, in small additions, keeps that air from collapsing, so the souffle bakes up light instead of dense.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, flour, butter, egg):
- Nutmegthe original
- Capersfits about as well
- Parsleyfits less well
- Turmericfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, flour, butter, 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.
You might also like
Meat Croquettes52 recipes
Meatballs37 recipes
Mince Meat37 recipes
Meat Cakes35 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.