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Egg Souffle in Cases

A light, baked egg soufflé served in paper cases or small cups.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Egg Souffle in Cases

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard base

  1. Scald the milk in a saucepan.

  2. In a bowl, mix the flour and sugar, then wet with a little cold milk.

  3. Stir the flour mixture into the hot milk and cook until thick and smooth, stirring constantly.

  4. Add the butter and mix well.

  5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and stir them into the milk mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Just before serving, beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the mixture.

  2. Pour the mixture into paper cases or small cups and place them in a pan of hot water.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes.

  4. Serve with a creamy 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 + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard and whites, beaten stiff, lighten the mixture so it rises in the oven.
Flour
Starch thickens the hot milk into a smooth, stable base that holds the soufflé structure.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing moisture and body.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and contributes to browning in the oven.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites beaten to stiff peaks trap air that expands in the oven to lift the soufflé. Overmixing or deflating them during folding loses that air, so the soufflé rises poorly. Fold gently and bake soon after.

“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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