Definition:
The word soufflé is derived from the verb “souffler” in French which means to blow or puff up. Soufflé can be sweet or savory. Every soufflé is made from 2 basic components; a base of flavored cream sauce and beaten egg whites. It can be categorized as Hot Soufflé and Cold Soufflé.
** Hot (Baked) Soufflé :
A baked soufflé is a light baked dessert made mostly with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients for flavor such as : fish , cheese or fruit .During cooking, the air trapped in the egg whites expands and increases the volume of the preparation, which must be served immediately, before it collapses.
How to make a Baked Basic Soufflé :
Firstly, melt butter in a heavy saucepan. Once the butter has melted, sprinkle over a spoon of flour to make a roux. It’s important to cook the roux for a few minutes to get rid of any floury tastes. Then stir for a while until it starts to change to little color, about 3 minutes over medium heat.
When the roux is thickened, the milk is added for make a béchamel – this is a slow process. Cook, keep stirring very often, on medium heat for 15 minutes.
When ready, the béchamel will be thickened and start to boil.
Beat the egg yolks in a small bowl, add sugar then pour the béchamel slowly, to temper the eggs. Use a ladle to add half-a-cup at a time, if all the béchamel were added to the egg yolks at once, it would begin to cook the egg yolks and you would end up a stringy mess.
Then, keep whisking the egg whites until they are stiff. That probably gives the final soufflé more lift.
Folded 1/4 of the whites into the sauce to lighten it. Then carefully folded in the remaining whites to keep as much air in them as possible.
After that, sprinkle the ramekin base with sugar and tilt the ramekin so that the bottom and the side are covered before tipping out any extra sugar.
Finally, pour the mixture soufflé into the ramekin , and put in the oven at