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Dessert

Cornstarch Souffle

A light, sweet dessert made from milk, cornstarch, sugar, and egg, folded into a soufflé.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cornstarch Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Mix cornstarch, sugar, and salt with cold milk.

  2. Gradually add to hot milk, stirring constantly until thick.

  3. Cook for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

  4. Add the beaten egg yolk.

  5. Cook for 5 more minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Add vanilla and beaten egg whites.

  2. Blend well with a wire whisk.

  3. Pour into a serving dish or moistened molds.

  4. Serve with sugar and cream or custard 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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Cornstarch
Thickens the milk as its starch swells and sets when heated.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the cornstarch thickens into a smooth custard.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the mild, starchy flavor.
Egg yolk or egg whites
Yolk enriches and thickens; whipped whites add lightness and airy structure.

The step that matters

Gradually add the cornstarch mixture to the hot milk while stirring constantly. Starch granules must be dispersed in cold liquid first and then heated while stirring so they swell evenly. Adding them all at once or stopping stirring can cause lumps and uneven thickening.

“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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