Soufflé!

Sometime last year one of the cable TV channels I get here in Hanoi started showing Junior Masterchef Australia. I had seen the American version and although I was a regular watcher, I really didn't like how mean they are to each other (both judges and contestants)! Why is that necessary? On the Aussie version, and especially the kids' one, they are ultra friendly, helpful, and supportive of each other. The contestants (well, the adults) all live in a house together, cook all the time, and teach each other about all kinds of ingredients, dishes, and cooking techniques. That's more like it! To me, food and cooking is more fun when you share it with other people. It's about spreading the love! I'm hooked!


One of the dishes that has been featured on this show is soufflé. Having watched a few episodes where they were made, and they went on and on about how hard they are to get right, I wanted to try it myself! I found the perfect opportunity when I was shopping one day and found a very small and ridiculously expensive punnet of fresh raspberries (not something that is readily available in Vietnam!). I couldn't resist. And since one of the best combination in the world is chocolate and raspberries, that's what it had to be!


I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures. I made this before I even had the idea of creating a blog, so only took a photo of the final product! I'm also quite angry at myself because it seems that I didn't write down what recipe I used! (This is very unlike me) I have several bookmarked, but I think maybe it was this one from food.com:


Dark Chocolate Soufflé
Ingredients:

• 1 ounce heavy cream
• 4 ounces dark chocolate
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 2 large eggs (separated into whites and yolks)
• 1 dash cream of tartar 
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Prepare two 6 oz. ramekins with cold butter pour some granulated sugar mixed with cocoa into the ramekin and shake and roll the ramekin to coat the bottom and sides with sugar.
3. Melt the butter, cream, and chocolate in the double boiler. Stir to help the melting. Once the chocolate has melted, turn off the heat.
4. Whisk the two egg yolks into the chocolate.
5. In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until the egg whites reach soft peaks. The whipped egg white tip of the peak should droop for the soft peaks.
6. Add the sugar to the egg whites and continue to beat until you reach stiff peaks. Adding the whites a little at a time, fold them into the chocolate mixture.
7. Without over mixing, fold the remaining egg whites into the batter.
8. Pour the batter into the two prepared ramekins. Fill them at least 3/4 of the way up. Place a piece of chocolate or berries on each and gentle push into batter.
9. Place the ramekins on a baking pan and place the pan in the oven on a rack set in the middle position. Bake the soufflés for 15 minutes at 375°F After fifteen minutes, the soufflé will have risen up out of the ramekin.

I then took a few of my raspberries and made a coulis by stewing them with a bit of water and sugar, then passing it through a sieve to make a smooth sauce.

The recipe made enough for about 3 soufflés, but being by myself that night I only cooked one, and put the rest of the batter in the fridge. Maybe I don't need to say this, but when I cooked the rest they didn't quite rise up the same way! Anyway, here is the end result:

Look at the height on that! I confess, until this moment I had never even eaten a soufflé! I have to say that after everyone on Masterchef going on about how difficult they are, I was mighty proud of myself! It was just as they said it should be, crispy on the top and soft and gooey inside. Yum!


The beautiful thing about soufflés is that they can be made in so many different flavours - the possibilities are endless! I'll be trying again with a different flavour soon! And yeah....next time I'll write down the recipe.