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Potato Souffle

A baked potato dish folded with egg yolks and topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Potato 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.

Make the base

  1. Beat the hot mashed potatoes until light and soft.

  2. Mix in warm milk and butter.

  3. Add the egg yolks, pepper, and salt, then transfer to a greased pudding dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until it begins to brown.

  2. Spread the meringue made from whipped egg whites on top, adding tiny bits of butter.

  3. Return to the oven until the meringue colors slightly, then serve immediately.

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. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Provide the bulk and body of the soufflé, giving it a soft, light base.
Egg yolks
Enrich the base and help set the mixture into a tender, custard-like structure.
Egg whites
Whipped into meringue to trap air, lifting the topping and giving it a light, airy texture.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor, and melts over the topping to aid gentle browning.
Milk
Loosens the potato mixture, adding moisture and a softer, creamier texture.

The step that matters

Spreading the meringue and browning it again. Whipped egg whites deflate if overbaked, so the meringue should only color lightly. Serving immediately matters because the air trapped in the topping gradually collapses as it cools.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, egg, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Chivefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, egg, 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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