final draft

Kennan Patton
9/15/2011
Professor Kerr
EN101
What is a Soufflé
Want to impress friends and family with a great Dinner party? Here is a little secret of the culinary world. One of the easiest desserts to make has the reputation of being the hardest one to make. A soufflé has a lot of flavor, and will make friends and families think that a five star chef was hired. In order to know what a soufflé is we must first look at how it is made, and then how it is severed.
In order to know what a soufflé is one must first know how it is made. The first thing that one needs to know is that soufflés basic ingredients are: whipped egg whites and egg yolk custard. This is the constant in every soufflé recipe, sweet or savory, eggs will always be in the recipe. The eggs whites are the most important part of the soufflé because it is what gives the soufflé the height that a soufflé is known for. The egg whites are also the reason that soufflés fall. There are three reasons that soufflés fall: the first is that the egg whites are over whipped, the second is if it is over cooked, and the third is if it sits out to long the egg whites will deflate. The next thing that one needs to know is how to prep the dish that a soufflé is cooked in. A lot of TV shows have someone baking a huge soufflé that looks like it could feed ten people but most people cook small individual dishes called ramekins. Preparing ramekins is very easy it is a simple two-step process: “Prepare your baking dish by buttering every inch of the inside of your dish. For a sweet soufflé you’ll want to generously butter every crevice, and dust it with fine sugar before adding the batter, For a savory soufflé`, butter and then dust with fine breadcrumbs or a grated hard cheese, such as Parmesan”(sweet or savory). Once one understands these things they can move along to how it is serve.
In order to know what a soufflé is one must know how to serve it. Since the soufflé is cooked in small individual ramekins they are also the dish that it’s served in as well, this is why it is cooked as individuals. When serving a soufflé timing is everything, a soufflé must be served as soon as it comes out of the oven or it will fall due to loss of heat. The next biggest question is sauce or no sauce with the soufflé. Some people don’t like sauce on their soufflé, but every recipe that is found online has some kind of sauce that is paired with it. This is a personal preference and should be taken in to consideration when planning a diner party. The last thing to go over on the topic of serving a soufflé is pairing with wine or beer. This is one of those things that can go either way. Let’s look at wine as an example: one can pair a wine with a soufflé or one can pair a soufflé with a wine, both are right it all depends on if one has a good wine or a good soufflé recipe. The first thing that to pair is what types of wine one should be serving with a soufflé both sweet and savory is. “Vintage Port, Late Harvest Zinfandel, Lustau Muscat Sherry “Emlin,” Recioto Amarone. Simple dark chocolate is excellent with Cognac. With a hot soufflé most every wine is wasted.” (Wine) The next pairing that one should look at for a soufflé is beer. “Fruit beers, lambics. Sweeter fruit beers and fruit lambics can be paired with light fruit desserts, such as soufflés or chiffon cake, but sour ones will probably overwhelm fruit flavors. Cream or sweet stout, imperial stout. These are made for chocolate, and imperial stout pairs especially well with dark chocolate. Weissbier, dunkelweiss. You want to be able to enjoy the flavors of the yeast, so stick with delicate foods, such as a delicate soup or pasta or light cheeses.” (Beer) that last one works great with a savory cheese soufflé.
Now that one knows how soon to serve a soufflé and what to pair with it, they are ready to enjoy it with everybody. So now knowing the secret of the soufflé have friends over, bake that soufflé, get some beer or wine, and have that dinner party.





Work cited
Beer - http://www.beertravelers.com/lists/pairings.html
Sweet or savory - http://www.halfhourmeals.com/food-for-thought/sweet-and-savory-souffles/
Wine - http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/wine/dessert-pairings.asp