| 323 | 324 | 325 | 326 | 327 |
| 1 | 103 | 205 | 308 | 410 |
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2
tablespoons rum or brandy
Procedure
. Cook rhubarb with 10 tablespoons sugar until beginning to turn tender, 5 to 10 minutes.
1
Add starch-water mixture and continue cooking until rhubarb is very tender about another 5
minutes. Cool to room temperature.
2
. Whip ice-cold heavy cream in chilled bowl with chilled beaters to soft peaks, add rum or
brandy and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Whip for few more seconds.
. Gently fold whipped cream into rhubarb and divide into four small serving bowls. Chill.
3
Garnish with mint leaves or sweet fruit sauce.
Serves 4. Holds well refrigerated for several days.
Let's not forget the most spectacular member of this family, dessert soufflés. They demand
far more preparation, attention and expertise than fools or puddings, but the basic ingredients are
similar: mostly eggs and flavoring, often with milk and possibly flour or starch. The ingredients and
their exact proportions are critical. So is the way you whip the egg whites, and the technique for
making the basic sauce, as well as the temperature of the oven and bake time. Presenting a perfect
soufflé as a finale to any meal is like serving a piece of art.
You make soufflés in two basic steps. First, you carefully cook and thicken an egg yolk-
based custard-like sauce. Add the flavorings after the sauce reaches the right consistency. The
second step is to beat the egg whites to a soft-peak stage and fold the foam into the sauce. Pour the
mixture into a vertical-sided soufflé mold and bake. Heat expands the beaten egg white, just like in
a cake but the soufflé’s structure is especially unstable.
Soufflés can easily double, even triple in volume in the oven. Insert a paper collar around
the inner edge of the soufflé mold to give support to the baking batter that rises above the edge of
the dish. Otherwise you will end up with a giant mushroom shape with a large flat cap. Remove the
collar just before serving.
When to remove the finished soufflé from the oven is also crucial. Pull it out a few minutes
too soon, and you and your guests can watch your marvelous creation deflate before your very eyes.
Leave it in two minutes too long and you end up with something that beginning to taste like a dry
omelet thickened with sawdust.
Soufflés don't hold well. You must serve them straight out of the oven, so you must keep the
guests on schedule. To serve this masterpiece for maximum effect, place it on the table, cut into
pieces and served while everyone is watching. An alternative is to bake soufflé in individual soufflé
dishes. Either way, soufflé is best fresh. They don't store well till the next day.
For all the time and effort you put into them, the risk of total disaster is high. Baking
soufflés is for brave and experienced cooks but the results are spectacularly rewarding. Prudent
cooks have a back-up dessert when baking soufflés.
Tips on cooking with eggs
Most of our discussion and information on eggs are in the chapter Unscrambling Dairy and
Eggs. Here I only mention a few points that help with the cooking of custard, pudding and dessert
soufflés.
Eggs are the thickening agents in all three. They thicken on heat but if they coagulate
play © erdosh 325
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