Shoddy Souffle

I hate souffles.

The souffle (no, no accent; I can't be bothered to figure out how to type one) is a creation that inspires well-documented fear in amateur cooks, ostensibly because experienced ones have shared their horror stories regarding the fluffy disastor-in-waiting. A "good" souffle is many things: poofy, yet rich; airy, yet filling; springy, yet cohesive; and, perhaps most importantly, challenging, yet delicious.

Inspired by my friend Shari's gentle prodding (or insistent demand, depending on who you ask) that I attempt a recipe she discovered, I took it upon myself to make my first attempt at this mysterious juxtaposition of conflicting descriptions. Naturally, I had to try a "non-traditional" souffle recipe as my first creation, and just as naturally, it was a miserable mess, and met none of the criteria I so painstakingly listed in the paragraph above. Never one to turn my back on a delightful "disaster post", I now proudly display my failed dish of banana pudding and bubbles in order that these mistakes never be made again. I must warn you, however, that some of the images (including the one at the top of this post) contain graphic depictions of unappetizing culinary creations, and as such, should not be viewed while a) eating, b) in the dark, alone, c) pregnant, or d) a master chef.

Banana Souffle

(Stolen from Tasty Eats At Home )

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas, mashed

3tbsp water

1/3c plus 1tbsp sugar

1/2tsp cornstarch

pinch of cinnamon

4 egg whites

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400F

Procedure

I like to get all the required ingredients together so I can look at them prior to starting. That way, when I forget something, I can see that it was because I forgot it in the first place and not because kitchen gnomes came in and stole the salt.

Prior to attempting the preparation, butter and sugar 4 ramekins (or, in my case, a single souffle dish) and set aside. Mix the water and the 1/3c sugar in a small saucepan and set over medium-high heat until it reaches a boil. In the meanttime, mash the hell out of those bananas (or cheat, and use a food processor, blender. Cheater.) and mix the cinnamon and corn starch into the mashed goo. Verify that the sugar has dissolved in the water and remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir the banana sludge into the syrup until thoroughly incorporated and set aside to cool.

The recipe's creator notes here, and I re-emphasize: make sure the mixture cools to room temperature before proceeding. It shouldn't take long, but if it's overly warm, it'll break apart the whipped egg whites and screw up your bubbles later on.

While the mixture is cooling, add the egg whites to a mixing bowl (ideally the bowl that goes with your stand mixer. ... What? I can cheat too. Shut up!) and mix until slightly frothy. Add the salt and continue mixing until the "soft peaks" stage is reached. Be sure not to overmix! When finished, bring the banana slime back to the equation and set it alongside the egg whites, just so they know who's boss.

Despite my intimidation technique, the ingredients didn't seem to take me very seriously, judging by my result.

Now that the ingredients have been put in their proper places, it is time to fold. Gently fold the egg whites into the brown goo, and don't over-fold: some white streaks are fine, as you want to retain that bubbly action for the rising portion later.

Hungry yet?

Pour the entire mixture into your ramekins (or souffle) and place them (it) into the oven. After it's in, reduce the heat to 375F and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until it has puffed upwards and the top has browned.

Not so ugly now, is it?

Lessons Learned

Lessons? An interesting question, seeing as how I'm not confident that any one thing went wrong. I suspect I under-mixed my eggs and had overly-soft peaks, as they did not mix well with the sludge portion of the dish. What is probably a greater problem is my use of a souffle instead of smaller ramekins; I suspect I should have modified the baking time to compensate, but even after trying that, it simply didn't want to set. I had a soup in the center and a beautifully browned exterior.

That said, I really don't have any problem eating dishes that look unappetizing, but I simply didn't care much for the flavor of this. The banana-cinnamon combination didn't work for me, and while I'm not a big fan of banana to start with (at least not as a stand-alone flavor), the combination created something that smelled particularly strong and tasted cloyingly sweet. The flavor problems I can probably simply blame on my palate, but the overall process simply didn't work for me. Next time I'll probably try a standard souffle recipe (utilizing egg yolks) and see if that causes similar problems. Given that I'm still adjusting to a new oven, uneven cooking temperature may be part of the issue as well. Long story short, I hate souffles.