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Chicken Souffle

A steamed dish of minced chicken folded with beaten eggs, breadcrumbs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Chicken Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine seasonings, bread crumbs, and cream with the minced chicken.

  2. Add the beaten egg yolks and mix well.

  3. Gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

Steam and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture into a greased mold.

  2. Cover with greased paper and steam over gently boiling water for 40 to 50 minutes (20 to 25 minutes for individual servings).

  3. Unmold and serve with asparagus or béchamel sauce.

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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,258 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).

  4. Chicken + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks enrich and bind the mixture, while whipped whites trap air so the soufflé rises and turns light.
Minced chicken
Provides the main protein and bulk that gives the soufflé its body.
Soft bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and add tenderness, helping the mixture hold moisture as it steams.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the soufflé soft rather than dry.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Whipped whites hold the air that makes a soufflé rise. Stirring them vigorously knocks the air out, so folding gently with a spatula keeps the mixture light and airy when it cooks.

“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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