The other night I finally decided to bite the bullet; I made my first ever souffle! And yes, it was as terrifying as they say.
A souffle to me, is something that I would always order in a restaurant, but never actually attempt myself. Soupy, stodgy, floppy souffles are the things of nightmares, so naturally I've always avoided them.
Round One. . . B. vs. Toffee Souffle
Let's just say it's not a good idea to attempt your first ever souffle on a whim. I adapted Gordon Ramsay's recipe for a Toffee Souffle from his 3-Star Chef book - on first inspection, I thought that it would be a piece of cake (not literally).
And at first, it seemed as though I had conquered . . .
But then it grew . . .
and grew . . .
and then it mutated so hideously that we couldn't bear to take a photo . . .
It was like a mushroom cloud rising from a nuclear blast. Suffice to say, I used too many egg whites (on S's insistence (!)). The flavour was amazing; like delicious homemade caramel. But it didn't cook in the centre, and was far too 'eggy'. The overly large ramekins wouldn't have helped either (they hold the equivalent of 3 normal portions (!)). Souffle: 1, B.: 0.
Round Two. . . B. vs. Chocolate Souffle
After the other night's disaster, my wounds had barely healed and I wasn't ready to attempt another potential disaster. S, unfazed by the first attempt, insisted that we try again. And since we had leftover creme patisserie in the fridge (from this month's Daring Baker's challenge), I had nothing to lose (certainly not my pride, which had been destroyed two night's previous). And now I'm glad we had another go. This time 'round, it just seemed 'right'.
A souffle to me, is something that I would always order in a restaurant, but never actually attempt myself. Soupy, stodgy, floppy souffles are the things of nightmares, so naturally I've always avoided them.
Round One. . . B. vs. Toffee Souffle
Let's just say it's not a good idea to attempt your first ever souffle on a whim. I adapted Gordon Ramsay's recipe for a Toffee Souffle from his 3-Star Chef book - on first inspection, I thought that it would be a piece of cake (not literally).
And at first, it seemed as though I had conquered . . .
But then it grew . . .
and grew . . .
and then it mutated so hideously that we couldn't bear to take a photo . . .
It was like a mushroom cloud rising from a nuclear blast. Suffice to say, I used too many egg whites (on S's insistence (!)). The flavour was amazing; like delicious homemade caramel. But it didn't cook in the centre, and was far too 'eggy'. The overly large ramekins wouldn't have helped either (they hold the equivalent of 3 normal portions (!)). Souffle: 1, B.: 0.
Round Two. . . B. vs. Chocolate Souffle
After the other night's disaster, my wounds had barely healed and I wasn't ready to attempt another potential disaster. S, unfazed by the first attempt, insisted that we try again. And since we had leftover creme patisserie in the fridge (from this month's Daring Baker's challenge), I had nothing to lose (certainly not my pride, which had been destroyed two night's previous). And now I'm glad we had another go. This time 'round, it just seemed 'right'.
Voila! Success! A combination of less egg whites (1 egg white : 150mL Creme Pattiserie) and smaller ramekins proved to be a winner. Using just 75g of 70% Valrhona chocolate (the Guanaja Feves variety), it was luciously rich, not too sweet, and light and fluffy (like eating clouds). In the end, not as hard as I'd originally thought. Souffle: 1, B.: 1.
2 comments:
There is no other word but 'perfection'! Yeah!!
It was worth the wait!
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