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Fear not the Soufflé! (but mind the pre-heat)

From my experience making a soufflé is far simpler than some recipes and stereotypes suggest. If you can get the four basic steps just right (or even close enough) you can make a soufflé: 1) Separate the eggs, 2) make the béchamel base and add the yolks and flavorings, 3) beat the egg whites, and 4) fold the egg whites into the base. Once you have this process down—improvise.

Speaking of my experience, not all my soufflé attempts have been successful. As a young man (long before I met Luan), the soufflé was my go-to dish when trying to impress a date. Some dates called for a savory soufflé and for others a Grand Marnier soufflé was more in order. I cannot explain here, Luan may be reading.

In any case, on one particular evening my date and I were in the kitchen enjoying a glass of wine and chatting as I put the finishing touches on a soufflé (savory if you must know). This was our first date, and she was properly impressed. As I slipped the assembled soufflé (complete with a buttered waxed paper collar) into the pre-heated electric oven, she asked, won’t the collar catch on fire? Posh! Was she questioning my wherewithal in the kitchen? Of course the collar won’t catch fire—unless you neglect to turn off the pre-heat function which uses the broiler to quickly heat the oven. In this situation, a soufflé collar will ignite within a minute or two, enveloping your lighter-than-air soufflé in ash and the kitchen in greasy black smoke. We ate out.

PS: For Luan I made a Valhrona Chocolate Soufflé, with a soft pudding-y center