Souffle is an invention of French cuisine. In translation, the word soufflé means "airborne." What explains the light as cloudy consistency of this dish? Egg whites. In principle, making a souffle is quite simple. First, the yolks are rubbed with a base, and then a protein foam is mixed with them. And to protect yourself from salmonella, which can hide in raw eggs, soufflé is baked. During heat treatment, proteins increase in volume and solidify with foam. This "airiness" gave the name to the type of dish. In this article we will tell the story of the appearance of the souffle. And also give some simple recipes for this dish.
Origin history
We all ate once in our lives soufflĂ©. These are âBird's milkâ candies. If you remove the shell of chocolate, inside you will find nothing more than a souffle. But this dish was not always a dessert. And at first it was completely unsweetened. For that matter, a properly cooked omelet can also be called a souffle. However, the history of this dish goes back to the seventeenth century. The King of France, Louis the Sixteenth, wished to begin his day with something light and airy. For breakfast, he was served with grated vegetables seasoned with Bechamel sauce. And to make the dish more airy, the cooks mixed in whipped squirrels. Then the mass was put in a preheated oven.
Souffle literally melts in your mouth. It is easily absorbed by the body. Therefore, the souffle very quickly became a dessert, and then the basis of the nutrition of toothless kids. Modern children also tried this dish at the dawn of their lives. Recall jars of meat mass.
Souffle cooking principle
This dish does not forgive mistakes. Egg whites require a special approach. After all, with the wrong temperature conditions, they can easily fall. Then the mass will exfoliate, and you will get jelly. Even the dishes should be special. Ideally, ceramic refractory plates are suitable for souffles. But stainless steel tanks will do. Souffle consists of two main components. The first is the base that gives the taste. It can be fish, meat, vegetables, cheeses, cottage cheese, chocolate, fruits and berries. And the second component is whipped proteins. They are gently mixed to the base at the very end. The dish can be of two types: baked and chilled. The first type is served hot. It is poured with sauce, if it is dessert - with syrup or jam. Cooling down, the souffle falls a little. The second type is served chilled. The air form here helps to maintain the gelatin added to the soufflé. Photos of such dishes look very appetizing. But we should not forget that eggs for such soufflés do not undergo heat treatment.
Easiest recipe
Souffle is an egg dish. And in this recipe we will use only them. That is, we can do without meat, fish, cottage cheese and other things. You will get a sweet omelet - a simple but stylish dessert that can be served with whipped cream or vanilla sauce. We put in an incomplete glass of milk (two hundred milliliters). Melt a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan. Pour the same amount of flour, season with salt and stir well. The flour should turn creamy. Now pour the hot milk. Stir so that there are no clots of flour, and add a tablespoon of sugar. Continue to cook, stirring. After some time, the mass will thicken. We divide two eggs into yolks and squirrels. First weâll whitewash with a bag of vanilla sugar. Be careful that the yolks do not curl, pour the hot milk mixture. Letâs cool and put in the refrigerator for another quarter hour. During this time, beat the squirrels. Add them to the base. Lubricate the ceramic mold with butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Put the souffle. The oven should already be preheated to one hundred and eighty degrees. Bake the dish for about thirty-five minutes.
Baby souffle
The meat in the diet of babies is very important. But this is bad luck: not all children want to eat it. Especially the liver, which is very healthy. But, applying this recipe in practice, you will make the most capricious child eat everything to the last crumb. We process half a kilo of beef liver and cook after boiling for about half an hour. We take it out of the water, let it cool completely. Soak a couple of slices of white bread in milk. We clean a small onion. Cut the liver into pieces. We scroll through a meat grinder: offal, onion and bread. Salt the minced meat, add the beaten egg. If it turns out to be a little dry, you can add milk or a little melted butter. Do not forget to prepare the baking dish. Lubricate its inside with butter. Based on the fact that the souffle in the oven will increase in volume, fill out the form only half. We put in a stove warmed up to one hundred eighty degrees. Cook for about twenty minutes. Serve with creamy sauce.
Fish souffle
Half a hack fillet. Grind the meat with a blender. Add a spoonful of soy sauce. Add to taste. Add two yolks (remove the proteins for a while in the refrigerator). Beat the minced meat with a fork. Add two tablespoons of sour cream. Whip again. We light the fire so that the oven warms up to one hundred and eighty degrees. We take out the proteins from the refrigerator and beat them with a pinch of salt to the state of solid and stable peaks. Gently mix this foam to the fish base. Fill the mold with mass. It is not necessary to lubricate it with oil: we will prepare this souffle for children in a water bath. So it will be more dietary. Fill the pan with water. We put on it a baking dish. Water should not reach the edges of this heat-resistant container. Bake for half an hour. Serve with cheese sauce, âOlandezâ or âBechamelâ. Children are very fond of this fish souffle. After all, it does not contain bones, tender and airy. For this dish, not only hake, but also other fish is suitable.
Dessert Souffle
In order for the dish to keep its shape, the culinary specialists go to the following tricks. They add viscous boiled rice, semolina or cottage cheese to the base. The latter option is preferable, because dessert will come out not only tasty, but also useful. You can bake soufflé with cottage cheese, like a cheesecake, or make something resembling yogurt ice cream. Consider the latter type. Soak a bag of gelatin in a glass of cold water. Mix two hundred and fifty grams of cottage cheese and mascarpone (or some other cream cheese). Add the zest and chopped flesh of lemon to it. You can also introduce a handful of raisins, a spoon or two honey. Melt gelatin over the fire, but do not boil. We introduce it into the cheese mass. Berries (strawberries, blueberries or similar forest gifts) are blended. Enter into the curd base along with the yolk. Whip the protein. We knead to the base. We put the souffle in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
"Bird's milk"
These delicious sweets can be made at home. They will have a shorter shelf life, but they will be more useful. How to cook soufflĂ© âBird's milkâ? Soak one and a half tablespoons of gelatin in a glass of warm water. After a quarter of an hour we warm it in a water bath. Gelatin should completely dissolve. Four chilled proteins, beat until stable peaks. In the process, we gradually add a glass of sugar to them. When the foam becomes shiny and stable, pour in the dissolved gelatin. Whip again. We cover the baking sheet, the size of which fits in the refrigerator, with confectionery paper. Pour the souffle. Level the surface with a knife. Set to cool for at least twenty minutes. In a water bath we heat a bar of chocolate. Thickly lubricate the frozen souffle. Set to cool. Cut the sweets with a hot knife so that the chocolate does not crack.
Souffle as a cream for cake
At the end of the nineteenth century, "brulee" was invented. This is not ice cream at all, but a cream souffle baked to a caramel color. They can decorate the cake or serve as an independent dessert. And if you donât bake sugar on caramel, you get an airy white souffle. A pack of gelatin should be poured with warm milk (an incomplete glass), and then warmed in a water bath. We mix three hundred and sixty grams of store sour cream with 140 g of powdered sugar and a pinch of vanillin. Beat for about ten minutes. Pour chilled milk with gelatin. Now we proceed to completion. We cut into small pieces three types of multi-colored jelly. You can cook it yourself or use the purchased marmalade. Add jelly to the mass. Stir and refrigerate.