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Petits Souffles D'epinard

A small spinach soufflé made with pounded white meat, egg yolks, egg whites, panada, cream, and seasonings, steamed and served with sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Spinach and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,130 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓

Petits Souffles D'epinard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine the pounded meat with the panada, 1 tablespoon of cream, 2 egg yolks, and seasoning.

  2. Beat 1 egg white until stiff and fold it into the meat mixture.

  3. Ensure the spinach is as dry as possible and mix it with the remaining ingredients.

Fill and steam

  1. Half-fill small molds with the spinach mixture, then add a teaspoon of the meat mixture in the center of each.

  2. Steam for 20 minutes, then turn out onto an entrée dish and pour sauce around.

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. Spinach + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  2. Spinach + meattop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Spinach + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,323 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Meat + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,248 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Spinach puree
Provides the green body and flavor, and its moisture must be controlled so the mixture holds its shape.
White meat
Forms the firm, set structure of the mixture once cooked.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the mixture as it sets.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiffness, they trap air that lightens the texture and helps it rise.
Panada
Acts as a starch-based binder that holds moisture in the meat and keeps it tender.
Cream
Adds moisture and a smoother, softer texture to the mixture.

The step that matters

Folding in the stiff egg white. Stiffly beaten egg white holds the air that lightens the soufflé. Folding gently keeps that air in the mixture; stirring or overmixing deflates it, leaving a dense result after steaming.

Swap the spinach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, egg, cream):

  1. Asparagusfits about as well
  2. Spinachthe original
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Leekfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, egg, cream. 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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