(7) Soufflé

Actually I haven’t baked this dessert for it is an advanced one, which needs more professional equipments such as an oven with the function of adjusting temperature and an automatic mixer. However, it is really an attractive dessert (sometimes added vegetables and cheese and served as an appetizer,) as a result, I still decide to write an essay about it. Maybe later one day when I get an advanced kitchen I can find the recipe and memory my thought again. :P

This beautiful dessert has a special history which rivals its appearance. During the time of Middle Age France, rich people lived in an extremely extravagant way. They spent four hours a day on having a meal with twenty cuisines. In the end of the meal, no one could afford to give a tiny bite but they still needed a dessert as a formulaic full stop. As a result, the chef designed Soufflé, which means “blow” in French and has a fluffy and moist texture, to critic the empty and prodigality of their lives. Soufflé’s main “ingredient” is the air so when it leaves oven, it will soon sink. One of the ingredients, egg white foam, makes Soufflé puff up almost one time higher than the container. Nevertheless, the beauty disappears with minutes.

However, nowadays every chef tries hard to make the beauty of it longer. Perhaps because that though people knows the cruel truth, they still want the wonderfulness stays no matter it’s true or fake.

The ingredients of two serving:
2 eggs (white and yolks separated)
1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup cheese
1/8 teaspoon crème of tartar (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 185°C and melt butter in a pan, add flour and cook (whisking constantly) until it just begins to turn a light brown color.

Heat milk until it’s hot, but not boiling then add the milk into the container which has butter and flour in it slowly.

Reduce heat. Whisk a small amount of this hot sauce mixture into the egg yolks. Once you have mixed in the egg yolk, you must be very carefull to keep the overall mixture at a low temperature! Otherwise the egg yolks will temper and your roux will have a mysterious mottled texture.

Slowly add cheese and mix until it is melted into the sauce.

Use a mixer at medium or high speed to beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until they are "stiff but not dry". (Once they peak, they're done.) Add 1/4 of the egg white to the sauce and mix.

Mix the sauce into the egg whites but “fold” them instead of stirring. This is important.

Place mixture in baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes.
Remember to serve immediately. Though the taste remains the same, when souffles cool, they begin to collapse.

Soufflé is a dream like dessert and gives people kinds of imagines. Besides, lot of people ate it with dressing and the steps of how to eat it is like the picture.

Sometimes you need a relaxing time and Soufflé will be a good choice though it is a little bit troublesome to make/buy it.