Any Cooks Still Around?

new answers about souffles

Isn't a souffle dish one that has straight sides?

i think you can use any ol dish as long as it's deep? like deeper than your average casserole pan.

also: HOT DISH

but only, as far as i know, to make the raising seem more dramatic?

what's the casserole dish made out of?

hot dish is necc -- the rising effect is mostly a product of the first few minutes in the oven, and the more dramatic the entry heat can be, the better the rise.

I found this:

"You may enjoy having a utensil for every use but, if your budget or storage space is limited, don't despair. A straight-sided uncoated saucepan or casserole dish substitutes nicely for a souffle dish."

Tep's on facebook if not lurking here.

He is? Oh cool.

And I do need to add a couple more pans to my collection but first I need to clean the stove grill that got some olive oil on it, as the smoking is a problem...

Ned,

anyway I will throw specialization to the winds and use my casserole which is excellent for some hot dish

what I'm makin' is like a high-falutin' black tie hot dish anyway

WHY YOU PPL MAKE SOOFLAYZ

they're good and (despite reputation) easy?

Mmm, yeah, souffle = delish + easy. If you've got a deep-sided ceramic casserole, that's the best due to even steady heat and retention so everything rises evenly. But if you've just got a straight-sided metal pan, that works too, just won't rise as high but will taste a-ok. Also, round is better than square due again to evenness of heat (corners get too hot in a square/rectangle pan). At least 4" deep.

Also remy OTM re hot pan to start.

Any particular brands to recommend re: ceramic casseroles?

thanks Jaq! I've got a Corningware round casserole that's served us well since '99 or so (got it with a collecting-stamps-from-the-grocery-store deal: sometimes I miss Iowa a little for stuff like that), I'm gonna make me a souffle tonight!

Ned, I just buy the white ones with the blue rim from Cost Plus. Like giant 6 cup ramekins. I have 4 of these and they are great for everything. Also, two white rectangle ones from Corningware that have lasted for an eternity but the glaze seems to be wearing through a bit (after eons of use). Also, restaurant supply stores have good ones. Le Creuset makes some, which I'm sure are really nice, but way spendy.

J0hn D. that should work a charm for you. Good eating! Leftover souffle, though kind of sad and defeated looking, is also very tasty and good for breakfast.

Good luck with the souffle-making!

Restaurant supply & business surplus stores are amazing, for real. I think I got all my flatware for under $20.

Also, I have never had a souffle!? Perhaps this can be remedied.

elmo, I thought they would be really eggy and therefore avoided them for years. What's amazing is, they aren't, the flavor of whatever you use for the "filling" (cheese, chopped cooked veggies, smoked salmon - all good) gets intensified somehow by the souffle magic. There's a recipe for "sturdy souffle" in the Fannie Farmer cookbook that is my standard one - doesn't rise as high, but also doesn't sink as low. I think I posted the whole recipe somewhere over on ILCooking.

I don't think I've had a souffle either, Elmo, so I'm looking forward to hearing the results here! I've been focusing on tomato sauces of late and need to branch out again.

Tomato souffle!

Is there such a thing? I ask in all innocence.

last week i had a souffle made with candied blue onions and Époisses that defies explanation

Ned, sure, you can pretty much mix up anything into a souffle. You don't want real watery stuff, so peel and seed your tomatoes first, or peel and chop and let them drain for 5-10 mins in a colander.

My god remy, that sounds better than amazing. What is a candied blue onion? Are they really blue or is that a kind of thing or what? I want some.

I'm always substituting whatever pan or dish I have on hand for what the recipe demands.

i can't stop thinking about the time i tried to make an angel food cake without the proper equipment: blender instead of mixer, saucepan with the handle removed instead of a tube pan.

the results made me cry.

and then my mom bought me a mixer and a tube pan out of pity.

(no commentary on the proper equipment for making souffle, being as i've never made one. if jaq says it'll work a charm, it'll work a charm. because she is charmed.)

Thank ya Jaq -- I'll be getting plenty of new tomatoes today and a Cost Plus is down the road, so rah. (Other tomato recipes encouraged, BTW -- I need to break out of the sauce/soup/broth/salad/salsa cycle.)

if jaq says it'll work a charm, it'll work a charm. because she is charmed.

Yes yes.

so is a souffle like a super-fluffy quiche or what? i am so uncultured! :(

When we do our unpacking party at the new place (fingers still crossed btw, we won't know til next week), I'll make beer waffles and some kind of souffle. What goes w/ beer? Peanuts? That could be fun: peanut souffle :)

The filling is a little more incorporated into the eggy stuff than in a quiche - you chop stuff finer/cheese actually melts etc. It has a really light texture, an intense flavor, and is actually a substantial meal for all its lightness. Also, no crust.

what I'm making is a corn pudding souffle and serving black beans with tomatoes on the side - I've been leaning on Madhur Jaffrey for weeks but tonight it's back to Chez Deborah Madison

This not a a souffle pan but I really want it:

Dutch Oven

Is a corn pudding souffle different from a corn souffle?

pudding souffles fall slower than regular souffles - you put the casserole in a pan filled with boiling water, thereby tempering the rise - less spectacular but also a little easier to play loose - my kitchen's small, & I'm easily distracted, so super-high-focus dishes are rough going for me sometimes, even though the rewards are often high

Huh, ok, thanks. That sounds like the option I'd take as well (I am also one of those people who have never made souffle).

The phrase "dutch oven" literally NEVER EVER fails to elicit a puerile chuckle from me. xpost

we've got one of those dutch ovens--it is pretty sweet (and heavy)

sturdy souffle recipe. Does use a bain marie (water bath), any pan big enough to let your souffle baking pan sit flat with at least 2" of clearance all around for the water.

as much as i'd like to endorse the le creuset enameled-iron stuff, i've got too many chipped-dish experience to really give it a full thumbs up. lodge cast iron, on the other hand, comes pre-seasoned, is easier to take care of, and is impossible to damage.

('blue onions' is my name for the kind of sweet onions or scallions mellowed in rice vinegar, oil, and sugar that have a tendency to turn green-blue when baked into pastry -- a prep i've adoped for dishes that the onion would otherwise dominate)

the souffle is in the oven and the crown is forming!

Don't take it out until it's dilated 10 centimeters.

it was good! but in many ways it was very much a first effort - hadn't got the rhythm of assembly, and a little yolk got into the whites so they didn't quite peak right, and finally the corn needs to not just be sieved after it's pureed with milk: it ought to be squeezed absolutely dry. So when I make it again, the presentation will be better. The taste though...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

ysi?

congratulations! so glad there were no tears.

john, have you tried pressing your corn through cheesecloth or a fine-meshed chinoise, repureeing in a food mill or w. an immersion blender? as compared with a simple sieve, the results can be pretty dramatic. and i'm always an advocate of cream-of-tartar in the whites; whether or not the recipe calls for it.

I did press the corn through a cheesecloth for sure! But I did not repuree. I think the issue was the yolk in the whites preventing them from peaking right. Still, it was really delicious.

Cream of tartar noted!

Cream of tartar, definitely a plus for stabilizing whipped egg whites. But it's also true that once there's any yolk in there, they won't whip properly no matter what. I don't trust myself to break and separate properly, so I end up using 3 bowls - 1 to crack the egg over and catch the white, 1 for the yolk, and 1 that I transfer the known good whites to for whipping. The best thing for getting incredibly volume from whites is a scrupulously clean copper bowl.

Corn pudding souffle sounds so good! I'm imagining it as a smoother fluffier spoon bread.

This is all inspiring me to try something on Saturday. Hmmm.

i wanna make breakfast pizza for a party on friday

what should i put on breakfast pizza!

eggs, hash browns, cheddar, breakfast sausage, onions

serve with sour cream + salsa?

will egg on pizza gross everybody out?

Scramble the eggs dry enough, that'd be good on pizza.

Also, a sweet pizza - butter the crust, put on some finely chopped apples, top w/ streusel (rolled oats, brown sugar, cinnamon/spices, cut w/ even more butter. Drizzle w/ some cream cheese frosting.

how about figs, sweet cheese, apples, and walnuts? when out of the oven drizzle with honey and cinnamon?

WANT!!!!

(you could add a little prosciutto to that, if carnivorous, and leave off the honey maybe)