Chocolate soufflés, finally living up to expectations

There are a few dishes that simply seem to give me trouble what I try them initially, and then takes me a while to move them into my comfort zone. Crepes was a particularly bad example, where for years and years I had an aversion against making the batter. Once I finally made up my mind that I would conquer crepes, I quickly got to a point where I can make many variations, different flours, different liquids, different fats, with or without eggs. Now I make crepes when I need something quick and easy - as I should. There really were no reasons for the insecurity, apart from me being a human being.

Chocolate soufflés is in a similar category, though it is different. I can make a killer dessert and savory soufflés and it is another quick and easy yet impressive part of the repertoire. Making a really good chocolate soufflés, with deep chocolate flavor, properly moist on the inside yet not undercooked, that has been a challenge. I think I succeeded once, did not record the recipe, and was not able to recreate the magic.

When this year's wedding anniversary came along, I wanted to make something without wheat, with limited sugar, yet supremely impressive. My mind again wondered towards the chocolate soufflés, and I decided to give it a shot. If it failed, I knew that Jasna would be appreciative of my effort, and that I would have no problems making something else instead. 

I did another search for chocolate soufflés recipe and found one that looked extremely promising. I did what I do very very rarely - I followed the recipe to the T. Well, I did use chocolate chips despite the warning they would result in an inferior results - but I did use very high quality chocolate, so I was not all that worried. I also used a bit less sugar for the meringue. From experience I knew that would work well.

The recipe worked! The result was pretty much perfect in every possible way. The texture, the taste, the look - everything was spot on. I wish I took more care in taking the picture, the actual result was way more impressive.

Key lessons:

The recipe taught me a new trick. Chill the batter in the fridge for up to an hour before baking the souffles. That results in a bit denser batter that is supposed to help the soufflés rise a bit taller. Given how heavy the batter was from the chocolate base, I was quite happy with the rising. It definitely rose more than the cheese soufflés that I made in the past, but less than my version of Kaserschmarren. I also liked it that the batter felt more solid and that I worried less about deflating it when I was loading the ramekins.

The recipe said that the batter could be in the fridge for up to 3 days, but that one should add one minute to the baking time if the batter was in the fridge for more than an hour.

The batter was denser after being chilled

The second lesson was to run a finger or a spatula around the rim of the ramekin to make a groove, with the intention to help the soufflés rise straight up instead of out. I have never experienced soufflés rising anywhere but up, but I'll take any insurance I can get.

See a little groove around the rim, maybe it should have been deeper 😃

Finally, the recipe calls for lowering the oven temperature after putting the soufflés in. The high initial temperature is to help with the soufflés rising up, and the lower temperature afterwards is to help with with soufflés being cooked evenly. I think this was a big deal and it helped with the soufflés being cooked yet nicely moist on the inside.

Does this qualify as trivial food?

Well... this recipe needs the precision that goes beyond what I would normally qualify as trivial food. But I am recording it anyway. The recipe really is not hard to follow, the techniques do not need up-front practice, and the result is so good it is worth paying a bit more attention in the process.

Ingredients:

• 60g unsalted butter, preferably at room temperature
• 110g semi sweet very good quality chocolate, either cut into chunks or chocolate chips or wafers
• 3 eggs separated, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• a small pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp creme of tartar
• 2 TBS sugar
• softened unsalted butter and about 1 tsp sugar or as needed for covering the ramekins

Method:

1. Separate the eggs. They will get to the room temperature while one is melting chocolate.
   
2. Prepare four remekins:
1. Butter the entire inside of each ramekin generously with unsalted butter. I use my fingers, some like melting the butter and use a brush.
2. Add about 1 tsp of sugar into a ramekin, shake it to cover the bottom, and then tilt and rotate a ramekin to cover the side walls. You can use the next ramekin to catch the excess sugar.
3. Repeat this for all 4 ramekins. 
3. Make the batter:
1. In a double boiler melt the chocolate and the butter. Mix well while the chocolate is melting.
2. Let the chocolate stand and cool for a few minutes to avoid cooking the yolk in the next step.
3. After a few minutes, mix egg yolks, vanilla, and a pinch of salt into the chocolate mixture.
4. Add cream of tartar and egg whites into a very clean large bowl, preferably a copper bowl that will help with egg whites get more volume.
5. Beat egg whites to a soft peak.
6. In three portions, while beating egg whites in between, add the 2 TBS of sugar to the egg whites and continue to beat them until the volume increases even more and you get a stiff meringue. It will take about 2 minutes to get the meringue, do not go much longer.
7. Add the meringue to the melted chocolate mixture. This is best done in 3 steps, gently folding the meringue into the chocolate, preserving as many air bubbles as possible. Take your time here.
8. Cover the bowl of the batter with a lid or with wrap, and place it into a fridge.
4. Turn the oven to 400F and wait until the over reaches the temperature.
5. Fill the ramekins with the batter, using 1/4 of the batter per ramekin.
6. Smooth out the top the batter and make a groove around the rim to help the soufflés expand up and not sideways.
7. Gently place the 4 ramekins on a baking sheet, and place the baking sheet in the oven.
8. Reduce the oven temperature immediately to 375F.
9. Bake for 13-14 minutes. The center should just bare jiggle when you tap the baking sheet. If the batter was in the fridge for more than an hour, add one minute to the baking time. My batter was in the fridge for about an hour and the soufflés was done after 14 minutes.
10. Take out of the oven immediately and serve before the soufflés deflates. 
1. If any soufflés is not eaten right away, it stays good in the fridge for a few days, covered it plastic wrap. Reheating it in a microwave, for about 20-30 seconds works very well.
11. The soufflés can be eaten as is, or with a dollop of whipped cream, or with sauce such as creme anglaise or, what I did, umeshu ganache.

Ganache with wine

Back in the day, I used to make chocolate truffles around Christmas, and bring boxes of it to work, much to delight of my co-workers. It was a rather easy but messy affair, until I learned that one could sous vide and pipe the ganache from a plastic bag, making is a no-mess event!

My ganaches were always rather thick, I never used it as a sauce. As flavorings, I would stick to the classics - coffee, liquer, maybe sour cream. I never even imagined one could go a bit more adventurous and use wine for flavoring, and use ganache as a chocolate sauce. That was until I was making chocolate soufflés and along the way found a recipe for ganache with red wine. Of course I had to try it, just that I didn't have any red wide handy, but I did have umeshu, Japanese sour plum wine. I tried that and wow, what an eye opener - hence recording it here. I used it as sauce for chocolate soufflés, but I can imagine tons of other applications. I think next I'll try it a filling for my crepes!

Deceptively boring look for such an explosive flavor

Ingredients:

• 180 ml heavy cream
• 180 ml wine. I used umeshu, the original recipe calls for red wine such as merlot or pinot noir
• 2 TBS cocoa powder (the original recipe calls for 1.5 TBS)
• a small pinch of salt (1/8 tsp)
• 100g sugar (I want to try to cut it down, especially with the sweet wine such as umeshu)
• 225 g best quality semi sweet chocolate, chopped roughly or in wafers/chips
• 60 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

Method:

1. In a small pan, mix the sugar, the cocoa powder, and salt, then whisk in the heavy cream and the wine
2. On a medium or medium low heat bring to simmer, then simmer slowly for 5-6 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the chocolate and the butter. Taste and add more salt if needed.
4. Wait for a few minutes before using it as thin ganache / sauce. In a fridge, it will thicken and can be used as a spread, e.g. for icing a cake.

Ratatouille in a heat wave

 I have been craving ratatouille and once the summer and the fresh vegetables arrived, it was time to make it. My real craving was actually for confit byaldi, where vegetables are baked ever so slowly until they become unbearably tasty. 

Heating up the ratatouille, the day after

So... I got the vegetables, I forgot to buy tomatoes, and suddenly we had a heat wave. Our AC cannot keep us as is, so running an oven for hours was not an option. The craving, however, refused to dissipate, so I started to think what to do. I didn't want to simply make a stove-top ratatouille. It's tasty for sure, but it can't hold a candle to confit byaldi. How do I cook vegetables more slowly then, was the question. I remembered that my Instant Pot had a slow cooker function, and I verified that I could set the cooking temperature - the low setting was at 185F, exactly the temperature used for cooking vegetables in sous vide. In comparison to cooking in the oven, the slow cooker option would sacrifice evaporation that intensifies the flavors, but at least the vegetables would cook at the right temperature that should make the dish quite tasty. 

I gave it a shot, and the result was quite good on the first day, and outright excellent the second day - not uncommon for such dishes. It is quite a find, especially in a hot summer when one really doesn't want to add extra heat to the house.

I still want to make confit byaldi - it has been several years since I made it several times, and all I have are a good looking picture and a memory of unbelievable intensity of flavors. I hope I remember to record what I do so that the next time I don't have to look for a recipe.

Confit byaldi

Ingredients:

• 2 cups home made tomato sauce
• Optional: 1 TBS miso
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped finely
• 1-2 lb cored sweet peppers, sliced thinly. I was lucky to get corno di toro.
• 2 medium sized zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/2 of sizeable eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch pieces
• salt to taste
• olive oil, a few TBS, enought to generously cover the bottom of the instant pot
• a few thyme sprigs

Method:

1. Cut all the vegetables and the onion
2. Set Instant pot to saute at medium heat, add the oil, and wait for the pot to indicate the temperature was reached
3. Add the chopped onion and a pinch of salt. Stir and sautee until the onion becomes translucent.
4. Add the sliced peppers, another small pinch of salt, and sautee the mixture until the peppers soften slightly.
5. Add the tomato sauce, thyme, and, if using, miso. Stir well and wait for the mixture to come to boil.
6. Add the zucchini and eggplant, mix well and, using a cooking spoon, level the top of the vegetable mixture.
7. Cancel the saute function, set the Instant pot to "slow cook", and choose low temperature. Set the cooking time to 4-6 hours (I only had 4 hours, so that was what I used) and start the cooking.
8. Cover the Instant Pot, either with a glass lid if you have it, or use the usual pressure-cooking lid, but set the valve on ventilation
9. After 4 hours (or 6 or whatever time you set), check for seasoning and add more salt if needed. 
10. Eat right away and/or store in the fridge overnight, in a covered dish. Reheated ratatouille definitely improves upon the fresh one.