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Cold Cheese Souffle

A chilled cheese soufflé made with Gruyère, Parmesan, whipped cream, aspic jelly, cayenne pepper, mustard, and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Gruyere cheese and parmesan cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 152 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Cold Cheese Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix the Gruyère cheese, Parmesan cheese, whipped cream, aspic jelly, cayenne pepper, mustard, and salt until well combined.

  2. Fill small soufflé cases using a large rose piping tube.

  3. Sprinkle the tops with additional grated cheese and coralline pepper.

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. Gruyere cheese + parmesan cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together152 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Gruyere cheese + mustardtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together49 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Gruyere cheese + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together105 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Gruyère cheese
Adds rich, savoury flavour and body to the mixture.
Parmesan cheese
Contributes sharp, salty flavour that stands out in the cold mixture.
Whipped cream
Adds air and moisture, giving the mixture a light, soft texture.
Aspic jelly
Sets as it cools, helping the soufflé hold its shape when cold.

The step that matters

Fill small soufflé cases using a large rose piping tube. Whipped cream and aspic must stay light and cold so the mixture holds its air and sets firmly. Overworking or warming it can deflate the cream and leave the soufflé soft and dense.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (gruyere cheese, parmesan cheese, cream, pepper):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gruyere cheese, parmesan cheese, cream, pepper. 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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