Name: Prune Souffle
Ingredients: 20 large prunes; 5 tablespoons sugar; 6 egg whites; 1 small cup blanched almonds, chopped; whipped cream for serving

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Prune 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.

Prepare the prunes

Boil the prunes until soft.
Pass the boiled prunes through a colander and whip until light.
Sweeten the prunes with sugar.

Make the soufflé

Whip the egg whites until stiff.
Fold in the whipped egg whites and chopped almonds.

Bake and serve

Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.
Serve with whipped cream.

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.

Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,130 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together42,166 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Prunes: Provide the main flavor, moisture and body of the soufflé base.
Egg whites: Whipped into foam, they create the airy structure that lets the soufflé rise.
Sugar: Sweetens the base and helps stabilize the whipped egg whites.
Blanched almonds: Add texture and a nutty flavor to the soufflé.

The step that matters

Whipping the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites trap air only when whipped to stiff peaks, and that foam makes the soufflé rise. Under-whipped whites collapse, and over-whipped whites turn grainy and dry. Fold them in gently so the air is not knocked out.