Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cheese Souffle II
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Add milk to the bread crumbs.
When the bread is soft, mix in cheese, butter, salt, and beaten egg yolks.
Bake and serve
Fold in the egg whites, beaten until stiff.
Pour into a buttered baking dish; bake in a water bath for 20 to 25 minutes for individual servings, or 40 to 50 minutes for a larger dish.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whipped whites trap air that lifts the soufflé, while yolks add richness and set the custard.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up milk to form a starchy base that gives the soufflé body and structure.
- Grated cheese
- Adds savory flavor and fat, and helps the base hold its shape as it sets.
- Milk
- Hydrates the bread crumbs and forms the liquid base of the custard.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites. Whites beaten until stiff hold the air that makes the soufflé rise. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air from deflating before the dish goes into 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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