Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Prune Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the prune pulp
Cook the prunes as you would for stewed prunes, then drain and rub the pulp through a strainer.
Add the sugar to the prune pulp and cook for 5 minutes, then cool and stir in the lemon juice.
Make and bake the soufflé
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually fold in the prune mixture.
Lightly pile the mixture in a buttered pudding dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25 minutes.
Serve hot or cold with cream or custard sauce.
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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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Whipped to stiff foam, they trap air that lifts and structures the soufflé as it bakes.
- Prunes
- Their pulp supplies the main flavour and moisture that give the soufflé its body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the prune pulp and helps stabilise the whipped egg white foam.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweet prune flavour and helps stabilise the egg white foam.
The step that matters
Folding in the prune mixture. Folding gently keeps the air in the whipped egg whites. Stirring or deflating the foam makes the soufflé dense and stops it rising well in the oven.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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