I don’t think there’s a cook alive who hasn’t heard all the various myths about soufflées: that they’ll fall at the drop of the proverbial hat, with the vibration of door slam, a heavy footfall, even a shout. Even among the enlightened who’ve sworn off such primitive superstitions, myths persist about soufflées falling when their […]
READ ONReader Bronwyn from New Zealand offers this puzzler from down under: When I was young being able to make a great sponge was almost as much a mark of proper womanhood as making a good Pavlova. (Thank goodness those days have gone.) The sort of sponge I mean is this: http://www.foodlovers.co.nz/forum/read.php?3,86688 with no fat except […]
READ ONReader Linda writes: I took a look at a video showing Julia Child making the cheese souffle, and she emphasized the importance of not letting the cheese melt into the sauce. She partially folded the bechamel/yolks and whites together before sprinkling in the cheese. If the cheese melts into the sauce, she notes, the souffle […]
READ ONSeveral folks wrote in yesterday to ask whether anything can be done to stop or at east inhibit the fall of a soufflé once it’s taken out of the oven. Indeed there is quite a lot that can be done, though every added bit of insurance against a fall has an impact on the soufflé’s […]
READ ONA good question from reader Mack. A roux (pronounced “roo”) is a thickener. More specifically, it is a thickener made from a 50-50 combination — by weight — of white wheat flour and fat (butter, oil, chicken fat, beef tallow, any fat will do). Roux-making is usually associated with French cooking, though the earliest reference […]
READ ONBase formulas for savory soufflées — their ratios of eggs, flour and liquid — are remarkably consistent from one recipe writer to another, at least in my experience. Where they differ is usually in the amount of flavoring added and the types of seasonings, though sometimes in the type of liquid used as well. Below […]
READ ONIt’s misleading for a cook to speak of a successful soufflé as one which does not fall, because all soufflés fall. Sure, some fall faster and more dramatically than others, and perhaps at inopportune moments, but the fact is a soufflé is a foodstuff that’s never really at rest. It’s either rising or its falling, […]
READ ONA soufflé is one of those dishes that gives the home cook a big advantage over the pros. Home cooks generally have better equipment that the pros do for preparing and baking a soufflé: a smoother running, better maintained mixer, a smaller oven with more even heat, etc.. Home cooks can also afford to give […]
READ ONReader Evan D. writes: Hey Joe. I thought I’d share something regarding strawberry shortcake. I work in a French shop and we get requests for strawberry shortcake, but naturally we can’t stoop to making it with American biscuits. We use genoise layers, mousseline cream and brush the layers with kirsch wasser. It’s very good! “Stoop” […]
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