A bout de souffle: Sweet lime soufflé
By esther on Friday, January 26 2007, 16:09 - Something sweet - Permalink
So what's the secret ingredient to a perfect soufflé? I've been attempting to answer this very question for quite some time now and when Tami at running with tweezers decided to launch a soufflé-centric Hay Hay It's Donna Day, I figured that I would give this finicky food another chance.
My previous attempts were based on a savory cheese soufflé but this time I thought I would try to recreate the fabulous lime soufflé that I had this summer at our favorite seafood restaurant in Brittany.
I probably would have had better success if I had stuck to a real recipe but I wanted to see what would happen if I lightened the whole thing up a bit: ie. cut down on the amount of yolks and butter. I literally held my breathe for the 30 minutes of cooking time and sat in front of my oven door, fingers crossed, willing the soufflés to rise. When it finally came time to remove the desserts from the oven, I was indeed breathless. They had puffed!!! I pulled them out of the oven... and they were still puffed!
I think that these are the best visual results I have had so far but I was once again disappointed with the overall texture. The magical puffiness still eventually just sort of deflates and turns to yummy goop and I'm still nowhere near my dream of the perfect soufflé.
Lime soufflé
250 cl of milk
75 grams sugar + 1 Tbsp sugar
Juice and zest of one lime
1 egg yolk
3 egg whites
2 tsp cornstarch
pinch of cream of tartar
Heat milk, sugar and zest in a saucepan. First combine the lime juice and cornstarch then add to milk mixture and thicken. Then remove from heat and add egg yolk. Let cool.
Beat egg whites, 1 Tbsp sugar and a pinch of cream of tartar until stiff. Fold in milk mixture.
Butter molds and fill 3/4 full.
Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30 minutes.
Makes four soufflés
Note: The soufflé had great flavor but I would prefer cutting the sugar so as to better highlight the lime.
Comments
how lovely! and the photography and set up-- superb! Thanks a million for sharing. I'll be back soon for more!
I suddenly had this image of bloggers around the world sitting by their ovens watching their soufflés rise. Lovely photos of a gorgeous soufflé. Thanks for joing HHDD.