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Dessert

Souffle Pudding

A sweet custard-like pudding made from corn starch, sugar, butter, vanilla, egg yolks, and folded egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Souffle Pudding

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.

Make the base

  1. In a saucepan, mix corn-starch and sugar smoothly.

  2. Add butter and vanilla flavoring; stir over medium heat until it boils.

  3. Remove from heat and vigorously mix in the egg yolks.

Bake and serve

  1. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them into the batter.

  2. Pour the mixture into a buttered dish and bake at 350°F (175°C).

  3. Serve with or without 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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  2. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Corn-starch
Thickens the base as it heats, giving the pudding its body.
Egg yolks
Enrich and set the base, adding richness and structure once baked.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and lift the pudding as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and mouthfeel.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and softens its texture.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites must be whisked to stiff peaks and folded gently. Overmixing deflates the air that makes the pudding rise, and under-whisked whites will not lift it.

“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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