Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Rabbit 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 base
Remove the meat from the boiled rabbits and mince it.
Pound the minced meat, adding the double cream, butter, egg yolks, and salt.
Pass the mixture through a sieve.
Bake
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the mixture.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until set.
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.
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Rabbit + meattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together315 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Rabbit + creamtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together409 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Rabbit + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,448 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 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
- Beaten until stiff, they trap air and give the soufflé its light, risen structure.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the base and help it set into a tender, custard-like texture when baked.
- Double cream
- Adds moisture and richness, keeping the pounded rabbit mixture soft and smooth.
- Rabbit meat
- Forms the main body of the soufflé, providing its savoury flavour and bulk.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender mixture.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Stiffly beaten whites hold the air that makes the soufflé rise. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air from collapsing before the mixture reaches the oven.
“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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