Name: Cheese Soufflé
Ingredients: ½ pint boiling milk; 2 ounces butter; 4 ounces sifted flour; 5 egg yolks; 4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese; ⅓ cup whipped cream; 1 ounce butter (for mixing); 5 egg whites (beaten)

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 ↓

Cheese Soufflé

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 base

In a saucepan, combine boiling milk and butter over heat.
Add sifted flour and stir until it forms a paste that pulls away from the bottom.
Transfer the paste to a bowl and let it cool slightly.

Assemble and bake

Gradually mix in egg yolks, Parmesan cheese, whipped cream, and beaten egg whites.
Pour the mixture into a buttered soufflé dish.
Place the dish in a pan of hot water, ensuring the water reaches halfway up the dish.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 25 minutes, until set.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

Egg whites: Beaten whites trap air, letting the soufflé rise and giving it a light, airy texture.
Egg yolks: Yolks enrich the base and help set the custard structure as it bakes.
Flour: Cooked into the butter and milk paste, it thickens the base so it can hold the risen air.
Parmesan cheese: Adds savory flavor and some body to the base.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the paste, adding moisture and softness.