Several 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” […]
READ ONRegular contributor (and critic), Jim C. of Chez Jim weighs in on Chantilly cream: Creme Chantilly doesn’t seem to be mentioned anywhere around Vatel’s time (late 17th c) but in 1780, Bertrand described “Chantilly ices” made with cream which had been flavored with sugar and orange blossom water, then whipped, the foam then served in […]
READ ONSeveral readers have alerted me to a movie about François Vatel, and presumably his fatal fish episode. It stars Uma Thurman and Gérard Depardieu. Might be worth a look!
READ ONTechnically a soufflé is a cake, however Julia Child defines it as — and I’m paraphrasing — a sauce to which a flavoring has been added, lightened with whipped egg whites and baked in the oven until browned. I prefer that definition because it highlights all the various process steps, each of which are important […]
READ ONEvery year I make a commitment to do more savory baking, and this year I’m actually getting a few licks in, as it were. Soufflées can go either way, sweet or savory, but let’s start with cheese and see how things progress from there, shall we?
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