Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1
Page 67
A chilled serving dish
1 to 3 cups fresh strawberries or raspberries
Just before serving, remove waxed paper, run a knife around the edge of the mold, and reverse dessert onto a chilled serving dish. Remove waxed paper. Decorate the top of the dessert with fresh berries and, if you wish, place more berries around the dessert.
CRÈME RENVERSÉE AU CARAMEL
[Caramel Custard, Unmolded—warm or cold]
French custards are usually unmolded, and therefore call for more eggs and egg yolks than custards served directly from their baking dishes.
For a 1-quart mold serving 4 to 6 people
The custard mixture
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
A 1-quart, fireproof, cylindrical mold lined with caramel
2½ cups milk
Optional: 1 vanilla bean
Line the mold with caramel as directed. Bring the milk with the optional vanilla bean to just below the simmer in a saucepan, cover, and let the bean steep in the milk while you prepare the rest of the custard ingredients.
½ cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
A 3-quart mixing bowl
A wire whip
1 tsp vanilla extract, if you have not used a bean
A fine-meshed sieve
Gradually beat the sugar into the eggs and egg yolks in the bowl until well mixed, light, and foamy. Continue beating while pouring on the hot milk in a thin stream of droplets. Stir in vanilla extract, if you have not used a vanilla bean. Strain the mixture through a sieve into the caramel-lined mold.
Baking the custard
Set mold in a pan and pour enough boiling water around mold to come halfway up its sides. Place in bottom third of preheated oven, close oven door, and wait for temperature to return to 350; in 5 minutes, turn oven down to 325. Water in pan should always be almost-but-not-quite simmering—too much heat and the custard will be grainy. Bake for about 40 minutes: a trussing needle or straw should come out clean when plunged 1 inch from edge of mold, but center of custard should still tremble slightly—over-long cooking makes a tough rather than tender custard.
Unmolding and serving
If you wish to serve the custard warm, set mold in a pan of cold water for about 10 minutes to firm it up; otherwise chill in the refrigerator. To unmold, run a knife between custard and edge of mold, place a serving dish upside down over the mold, quickly reverse the two, and remove the mold from the custard. If you wish, simmer 2 to 3 tablespoons of water in the mold to dissolve the remaining caramel; strain around the custard.
VARIATIONS
To serve individual unmolded custards, use the custard mixture in the preceding master recipe, and mold the custards as follows:
Petits Pots de Crème
[Cup Custards, Unmolded]
1 quart caramel custard mixture, the preceding recipe
8 caramel-lined, ⅔ cup ramekins
A pan to hold the ramekins
Divide the custard mixture among the ramekins and pour boiling water into the pan to come halfway up; set in lower third level of a preheated 350-degree oven. In 5 minutes, turn oven down to 325 and bake 20 to 25 minutes longer or until a skewer or straw comes out clean when plunged one-eighth inch from edge of molds; centers should still tremble. Remove from oven, remove molds from water, and let cool. Unmold when ready to serve.
Crème Sainte-Anne au Caramel
[Macaroon Cup Custards, Unmolded]
1 Tb butter
8 caramel-lined ramekins, ⅔-cup capacity
1 cup pulverized macaroons 1 quart caramel custard mixture, the master recipe
Butter the insides of the caramel-lined ramekins and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of pulverized macaroons in each. Fill with the custard mixture and bake as in the preceding directions for cup custards. You may wish to garnish them when unmolded with one of the suggestions at the left.
Optional garnishings
crème anglaise (custard sauce)
OR, strawberry or raspberry sauce
OR, fresh or canned peach halves, coated with caramel syrup
DIPLOMATE
POUDING DE CABINET
[Custard with Glacéed Fruits, Unmolded—a warm or cold dessert]
This delicious and most classical of French desserts does not take too long to prepare, and can be baked the day before your dinner party. The custard is baked in a mold lined with ladyfingers which must be of best quality, tender and dry, not spongy.
For 8 people
⅓ cup small, seedless raisins
A saucepan of boiling water
A small bowl
⅔ cup finely diced, mixed, glacéed fruits, such as cherries, angelica, apricots, pineapple
3 Tb dark rum or kirsch
Drop the raisins into the boiling water and let stand for five minutes. Drain, and place in the bowl. Stir in the glacéed fruits, the rum or kirsch, and let stand until ready to use.
A round of buttered waxed paper
A 6-cup cylindrical mold about 3½ inches high
Place the buttered paper in the bottom of the mold.
⅓ cup dark rum or kirsch
⅔ cup water
A soup plate
About 40 single ladyfingers, 3½ inches long and 2 inches wide (recipe for homemade ladyfingers)
A cake rack
Pour the rum or kirsch and water into the soup plate. One by one, dip 20 to 25 ladyfingers (or enough to line the mold) into the liquid. Drain on cake rack. Following directions, line the bottom and the sides of the mold with the dipped ladyfingers.
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
A 3-quart mixing bowl
A wire whip
2 cups milk, brought to the boil with the grated rind of 1 orange
Beat the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and foamy. Gradually beat in the boiling milk. Strain in the kirsch or rum from the glacéed fruits.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
½ cup apricot preserves forced through a sieve
Spoon a ladleful of custard into the prepared mold. Over it sprinkle a small handful of the glacéed fruits, then 2 to 3 tablespoons of apricot preserves. Cover with 2 or 3 ladyfingers, and spoon a bit of custard over them. Wait for a moment for the ladyfingers to absorb the custard, then continue with layers of fruit, apricot preserve, ladyfingers, and custard until the mold is filled. Trim off protruding ladyfingers around edge of mold.
A pan of boiling water
Set mold in a pan of boiling water, and place in bottom third of oven. Immediately reduce heat to 325 degrees. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, making sure water in pan never comes to the simmer. When center of custard has risen very slightly and a needle or knife plunged to the bottom of the mold comes out clean, custard is done. Remove from pan of water and let cool. (May be served slightly warm, or chilled.)
A serving platter
2 cups strawberry sauce
Run a knife around the edge of the custard and reverse on a serving platter. Remove round of paper, and surround the dessert with the sauce.
SWEET SOUFFLÉS
Soufflés Sucrés
Many people consider the desert soufflé to be the epitome and triumph of the art of French cookery, a glorious and exciting finish to a great meal. Although sweet soufflés are lighter and airier than entrée soufflés, the general idea is the same: a flavored sauce base into which stiffly beaten egg whites are incorporated. All the points discussed in the Entrée chapter regarding soufflés, apply also to sweet soufflés; these include soufflé molds, placement in the oven, testing, and serving. The discussion in that section on how to beat egg whites is of particular importance. Though you will get a soufflé of some sort no matter what you do, you will achieve magnificence only if your egg whites are beaten so they mount smoothly and stiffly to about seven times their original volume, and are then folded carefully into the sauce base so that their maximum volume is retained.
THE SAUCE BASE OR BOUILLIE
Of the three standard methods for making a soufflé base, the béchamel with its cooked roux, the crème pâtissière with its cooked egg yolks, and the bouillie used in the following recipes, we prefer the bouillie for lightness. A bouillie is milk, sugar, and flour or starch, boiled for a few seconds until thickened. After it has cooled slightly, egg yolks, butter, and flavoring are beaten in, then beaten egg whites are incorporated. Some people prefer a bouillie with flour; others use potato starch, rice starch, or cornstarch. You may take your choice except for the chocolate soufflé which requires starch. Although you can make a soufflé without starch or flour, as in the lemon soufflé tart you will find that it lacks something in texture and tenderness.
SOUFFLÉ MOLDS
Be sure to read the illustrated section on soufflé molds in the Entrée chapter.
TIMING
The following recipes for hot soufflés are based on a 6-cup mold, and, except for the chocolate soufflé, take 30 to 35 minutes to bake. Since you may fill your mold, cover it with an empty kettle, and let it wait about an hour before baking, you can time it quite accurately to coincide with dessert if you are also able to estimate the general eating-speed for the rest of the meal. In any case, no guest who knows a soufflé is in the oven should mind waiting a few minutes for dessert.
Soufflés made in a 3-cup mold take 15 to 20 minutes to bake; those in an 8-cup mold, 40 to 45 minutes. Molds larger than 8-cup capacity are difficult to time, and the soufflé is so large it may not rise satisfactorily.
SOUFFLÉ À LA VANILLE
[Vanilla Soufflé]
All of the sweet soufflés with the exception of chocolate may be made according to the following vanilla soufflé formula. A fairly quick operator can make any of them ready for the oven in 20 minutes.
For 4 people
Preparing the soufflé mold
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
½ Tb softened butter
A 6-cup mold, preferably one 3½ inches deep like the charlotte. See illustrations
Granulated sugar
Measure out your ingredients. Butter the entire inner surface of the mold. Roll granulated sugar around in it to coat the sides and bottom evenly. Knock out excess sugar.
The bouillie sauce base
A wire whip
3 Tb sifted all-purpose flour
A 2½-quart enameled saucepan
¾ cup milk
⅓ cup granulated sugar
Beat the flour in the saucepan with a bit of the milk until well blended. Beat in the rest of the milk, and the sugar. Stir over moderately high heat until mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Boil, stirring, for 30 seconds. Sauce will be very thick. Remove from heat and beat for 2 minutes to cool slightly.
4 eggs
A bowl for beating egg whites
A wire whip
Separate one egg, dropping the white into the bowl, and the yolk into the center of the sauce. At once beat the yolk into the sauce with the wire whip. Continue with the rest of the eggs, one by one.
2 Tb softened butter
A rubber scraper
Beat in half the butter. Clean sauce off sides of pan with rubber scraper. Dot top of sauce with the rest of the butter to prevent a skin from forming on the surface.
() If made in advance, beat over gentle heat only until sauce is barely warm to your finger, not hot. Then proceed with recipe.
The egg whites
5 egg whites (4 left over from the yolks and 1 extra white)
Pinch of salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
Beat the egg whites and salt together until soft peaks are formed. Sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed. (Directions for beating egg whites.)
The flavoring
2 Tb vanilla extract (Or see Vanilla, if you prefer the bean)
Beat the vanilla into the sauce base. Stir in a fourth of the beaten egg whites. Delicately fold in the rest. (Illustrated directions for folding.)
Filling the mold
Turn the soufflé mixture into the prepared mold, leaving a space of at least 1¼ inches between the top of the soufflé and the rim of the mold. If the mold is too full, the soufflé will spill over as it rises.
() If soufflé is not to be cooked immediately, set an empty kettle upside down over the mold. Filled mold can now wait for about an hour before baking.
Baking the soufflé
Powdered sugar in a shaker
Place the mold in the middle level of the preheated oven, and immediately turn down to 375 degrees. In 20 minutes, when the soufflé has begun to puff and brown, quickly sprinkle the top with powdered sugar. After a total of 30 to 35 minutes of baking, the top of the soufflé should be nicely browned, and a trussing needle, straw, or long, thin knife, plunged into the soufflé through the side of the puff, should come out clean.
Serve immediately.
VARIATIONS
All of the following variations are based on the preceding master recipe, using the same method and ingredients except for changes in flavor.
Soufflé à l’Orange
[Orange Soufflé with Cointreau, Curaçao, Grand Marnier, Etc.]
1 bright-skinned orange
2 large sugar lumps
Use the master soufflé formula. Before making the bouillie sauce base, rub the sugar lumps over the orange to extract the oil. Mash the sugar lumps, grate the orange part of the peel, add to the saucepan with the granulated sugar, and proceed with the sauce base.
2 tsp vanilla extract instead of 2 Tb
3 to 4 Tb orange liqueur
Beat the vanilla and the orange liqueur into the sauce base just before incorporating the beaten egg whites. Complete the recipe.
Soufflé Rothschild
[Soufflé with Glacéed Fruits and Kirsch]
⅔ cup diced, mixed glacéed fruits
¼ cup kirsch
Let the glacéed fruits stand in the kirsch for half an hour.
2 tsp vanilla extract instead of 2 Tb
Using the master soufflé formula, prepare the bouillie sauce base. Just before incorporating the beaten egg whites, drain the fruits and beat their kirsch maceration into the sauce base with the vanilla.
Turn a third of the soufflé mixture into the prepared mold. Sprinkle half of the glacéed fruits on top. Cover with half the remaining soufflé mixture, then with the rest of the fruits, and finally the last of the soufflé mixture.
Soufflé au Café
[Coffee Soufflé]
Use the master soufflé formula, but before making the bouillie sauce base:
3 Tb coffee beans
OR, 1 Tb instant coffee
Either bring ½ cup of the milk to the boil with coffee beans, cover and steep for 5 minutes, then strain into the milk and flour paste, beating thoroughly; or beat instant coffee into ½ cup of boiling milk.
1 Tb vanilla extract rather than 2 Tb
Then proceed with the recipe, beating the vanilla into the sauce base before incorporating the beaten egg whites.
Soufflé Praliné
Soufflé aux Macarons
[Soufflé with Caramelized Almonds or Macaroons]
Use the master soufflé formula.
1 Tb vanilla extract rather than 2 Tb
½ cup pralin, or the pulverized macaroons
Stir the vanilla and the pralin or macaroons into the bouillie sauce base just before incorporating the beaten egg whites.
Soufflé aux Amandes
[Almond Soufflé]
Almonds may be added to any soufflé, and are especially good with coffee, orange, or chocolate, as well as with vanilla.
Use the master soufflé formula.
2 Tb vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract
½ cup pulverized toasted almonds
Stir the vanilla and almond extracts and almonds into the bouillie sauce base just before incorporating the beaten egg whites.
Soufflé Panaché
[Half-and-ha
lf Soufflé]
For two kinds of soufflé cooked in the same mold, use vanilla, and coffee, pralin, or orange. Chocolate will not do, as it cooks in a different manner.
The bouillie sauce base, master recipe
2 two-quart bowls
Divide the sauce base into the two bowls.
5 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
Beat the egg whites and salt together until soft peaks are formed; sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.
1 Tb vanilla extract
Beat the vanilla flavoring into one bowl, and fold in half the beaten egg whites.