Why it works: Milk and fish are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,432 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓
Fish Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the base
Make a white sauce by cooking flour and milk until thick, then set aside.
Add the beaten egg yolks and flaked fish to the sauce.
Assemble
Chill the mixture, then fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish.
Bake and serve
Bake in a water bath at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Alternatively, bake in small molds for about 20 minutes.
Serve immediately with Drawn Butter or Tomato 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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Milk + fishtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Flour
- Starch thickens the milk into a white sauce that gives the soufflé its base.
- Milk
- Liquid that cooks with the flour to form the thick white sauce.
- Eggs
- Whites trap air for lift, while yolks enrich the base and help it set.
- Cooked fish
- Provides the main flavor and body of the soufflé.
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 being pushed out of the mixture before baking.
“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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