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Tomato Souffle

A baked tomato-based soufflé with butter, cheese, macaroni, breadcrumbs, mustard, and eggs, topped with Parmesan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and parmesan cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,041 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Tomato 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.

Make the base

  1. In a saucepan, combine tomato pulp, butter, grated cheese, chopped macaroni, bread crumbs, and mustard.

  2. Stir over medium heat until the mixture boils.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

  4. Add the egg yolks and mix well.

Bake and serve

  1. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the mixture.

  2. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and top with grated Parmesan cheese.

  3. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden and puffed.

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. Cheese + parmesan cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,041 recipes

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

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  5. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air that lifts the soufflé as it puffs.
Egg yolks
Enrich the base and help bind it, giving a richer, set custard-like texture.
Tomato pulp
Provides the main liquid and tomato flavour, adding moisture to the base.
Grated cheese
Adds savoury flavour and richness to the base.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help give the base body and structure.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites must be beaten to stiff peaks and folded gently. Overmixing deflates the air bubbles, so the soufflé will not rise well in the oven.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, butter, cheese, bread, egg, parmesan cheese):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, butter, cheese, bread, egg, parmesan cheese. 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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