Eggs+-+Michelle+N.

= = = Triple Chocolate Valentine Souffle Recipe =



Ingredients:
4 ounces butter 7 ounces all-purpose flour 4 ounces sugar 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups milk (can use 2 percent milk) 8 eggs, separated 4 tablespoons good-quality cocoa powder 4 tablespoons Oreo cookie crumbs 1 3/4 ounce Godiva liqueur

Preparation:
Over medium heat, melt 3 ounces of the butter. Add the flour and stir with a stainless steel whisk, breaking up lumps of flour. (Avoid browning because of the influence on flavor and appearance of the finished sauce.) Add 3 ounces of the sugar, the vanilla and the milk. Stir with whisk until smooth. When batter begins to stick to whisk, remove from heat. Transfer to an electric mixer. Add egg yolks and mix well. Stir in cocoa, cookie crumbs and liqueur.

In a standing electric mixer or in a mixing bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat egg whites until stiff. (Beat until beater can be taken out to leave peaks that bend over on the end but do not fall over.. "stiff peaks" (Williams, 188.) Fold a little of the egg whites into the base mixture to lighten it. Fold in the rest of the egg whites. (Be certain not to over-fold, this will cause loss of volume due to loss of air and cause the end product to be less tender. Proceed with the remaining steps quickly yet gently until in the oven (Williams, 189.)

Use remaining butter, softened, to butter the inside (bottom and sides) of 8-ounce ramekins. Make sure the butter covers the entire surface. Completely coat the inside of the ramekins with the remaining sugar. Carefully pour batter into center of each dish, filling it to very near the top. (Pour as low as possible to minimize air loss, the air is what gives the souffle its volume (Williams, 189.)

Bake at 375 [|degrees] for about 15 minutes. (As the coagulation temperature of the egg proteins is reached around the edge, the structure will set. The air in the souffle will expand and stretch the uncoagulated portions. This continues until the protein structure coagulates. Be sure not to open the oven and let the cool air in, as this will cool the heated air and result in reduced pressure within the souffle. This will cause the product to fall (Williams, 190). Also, be sure not to overcook. Overheating of the egg proteins causes tightening of the proteins, which results in loss of volume.) Serve immediately with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. (After about 5 minutes, souffles will begin to fall, so serve them right away.) This recipe from CDKitchen for Triple Chocolate Valentine Souffle serves/makes 4

Ingredient Analysis:

 * Butter** helps to blend the starch and disperse the starch uniformly. Making sure there are no lumps and the roux is perfectly smooth is important before proceeding to the gelatinization process, otherwise finished sauce is certain to contain lumps from dry flour. The viscosity of the sauce is important in that too thin will drain from the egg white foam before the structure is set, and the souffle will have a heavy layer in the bottom. Too thick will not fold well into the egg whites.


 * Flour** assists in making a slurry and acts as a thickening agent it also helps to thicken up and make a roux as a base for the souffle.


 * Egg yolks** are beaten well and mixed thoroughly to incorporate air in them. When adding the egg yolks to the sauce, be sure to constantly stir or the high temperature of the sauce will begin to coagulate the egg yolk proteins, resulting in lumps of unevenly coagulated yolk. The egg yolks bind the fat in the sauce that is used as part of the souffle, and helps to keep the sauce distributed in the egg white foam during baking.


 * Egg whites** are a vital part in making a souffle. Before beating the egg whites, be certain there is absolutely no trace of yolk in the whites or on the beaters that will be used. Any trace of fat will impair formation of the egg white foams. Under beaten egg whites will cause the souffle to be smaller in volume and overall a tougher product. There may also be laying at the bottom. Over beaten egg whites will not blend readily with the sauce and tend to break into chunks (Williams, 188). The egg whites beaten to a foam, adds considerable volume. Optimum stability is gained when acid and/or sugar is added to them and when they are beaten to the correct end point, but not over beaten. Many souffle recipes contain cream of tartar which slows foam formation and is added all at once at the foamy stage, making an electric mixer a useful tool.

Variations/Substitutes:
In place of the butter, margarine can be used. Soft margarine is lower in trans and saturated fats than solid butter or margarine ("Questions About Cooking with Butter", 2007). To avoid dense, soggy or flat baked foods, don't substitute oil for butter or shortening. Also don't substitute diet, whipped or tug-style margarine for regular margarine ("Healthy Recipes", 2010).

In place of the all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour (half the amount called for) can be used. Whole-wheat flour has fewer calories and carbohydrates than white flour, and contains five times the fiber, twice the calcium, and 25% more protein than white flour ("Baking Flour Facts", 2007). Whole-wheat pastry flour is less dense and works well in softer products like cakes and muffins ("Healthy Recipes", 2010).

In place of milk (2 percent milk), reduced fat or fat-free milk can be used without affecting quality.

In place of the Godiva liqueur,  another flavor, such as Chambord, Grand Marnier or Kahlua may be used.

Facts/Information about eggs:


Eggs are composed of dozens of different proteins. The albumen, or egg white accounts for 58% of an eggs weight. More than half of all the protein in an egg is ovalbumin which is important in egg preparation because it gels well and denatures easily when heated (Brown, 250). Eggs have a unique ability to flavor, color, emulsify or thicken, bind, foam, interfere, coat, leaven, clarify, and prevent crystallization. Eggs normally have a neutral pH (7.0-7.6) when they are whole and tend to be alkaline (8.4) as just egg whites. There are many functions of eggs:
 * 1) **Emulsifying:** The natural emulsifying agent found in egg yolks is lecithin. One end of the emulsifying agent attracts water, while the other is drawn to the fat. Eggs are also used to thicken and stabilize foods.
 * 2) **Binding:** Since eggs have such a high protein content, they are useful in binding ingredients. During cooking, heat coagulates the eggs' protein, which then acts as an adhesive, binding other ingredients to the surface of the cooked material. An example would be chicken dipped in beaten eggs then rolled in bread crumbs as in chicken parmigiana. Eggs also bind mixtures together like meatloaf, meatballs, and manicotti. When the mixture cooks, the egg proteins firm and stabilize, providing structural strength.
 * 3) **Foaming:** Egg-white foams are used to aerate and leaven food products like fluffy omelets, souffles and meringues. The best eggs to use in the foaming process are fresh eggs because they have thick egg whites, which contribute to a stable foam. Formation and stability of egg white foams depend upon many factors. These factors are the beating technique; the temperature; the type of bowl (plastic should be avoided because they are porous and may harbor a thin film of grease from previous usage); careful separation of yolks and whites; and whether or not sugar, fluid, salt, or acid have been added. The vigorous beating or whisking breaks the links between the protein molecules, causing the protein molecule coil to unwind or become denatured. The foam structure is created when the unfolded proteins rearrange to construct films around the air cells. When the airy foam is heated, the air cells expand further, after which the egg proteins coagulate, causing the egg proteins to solidify creating a firm, stable structure, higher in height and volume than those made without egg whites (Brown, 257).

Eggs are affected by the addition of certain ingredients. The ingredients that affect eggs are:
 * 1) **Sugar:** Sugar helps to stabilize egg-white formation, but it also inhibits the mechanical coagulation of proteins that make foam formation necessary. So it is important to add sugar near the end of the whipping time or volume may be compromised. One teaspoon of granulated sugar may be added per egg after soft white peaks have formed. When sugar is added to sweeten egg whites they are less likely to be over beaten and have a very smooth and fine texture, and satiny surface (Brown, 257).
 * 2) **Fluid:** When fluid is added to egg whites, foam volume increase as much as 40%, but decreases stability.
 * 3) **Salt:** Salt is rarely added to egg whites because it decreases the stability and volume of egg-white foam.
 * 4) **Acid:** Egg whites whip more easily into a stable foam when their pH is lowered slightly. So when an acid (lemon juice or cream of tartar) is added to decrease the pH of egg whites, the egg proteins become unstable and more likely to denature and whip into a foam. Adding too much acid, results in delayed foam formation and much less stable foam.

media type="youtube" key="50Ku4sRt3iI" height="390" width="640" (I put this video up because it was similar, not exact to my recipe and begins with a starch-butter slurry.)

media type="youtube" key="EHCTgPQXOtg" height="390" width="640" media type="youtube" key="_rwbfXybXII" height="390" width="640" (I loved these videos. The chef describes what happens to the eggs and why. He's annotating! :-) )

References

B Parisi. (2009, July 15). Vanilla Souffle [Video File]. Retrieved from http://fixmyrecipe.com/videos/dessert/116. (2011, March 31).

Brown, A. (2011). //Understanding Food: Principles & Preparation//. (4 th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Mayo Clinic Staff. (2010, November 23). "Healthy recipes: A guide to ingredient substitutions". MayoClinic.com. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/NU00585. (2011, March 31).

the Editors of Easy Home Cooking Magazine. (2007, November 13). "Questions About Cooking With Butter". HowStuffWorks.com. Retrieved from http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/questions-about-cooking-with-butter.htm. (2011, March 31).

the Editors of Easy Home Cooking Magazine. (2007, November 14). "Baking Flour Facts". HowStuffWorks.com. Retrieved from http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/baking-flour-facts.htm. (2011, March 31).

twoody1204. (2010, February 4). Chocolate Souffle Part 1 by Cook With Tom [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHCTgPQXOtg. (2011, March 31).

twoody1204. (2010, February 4). Chocolate Souffle Part 2 by Cook With Tom [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rwbfXybXII& feature=related. (2011, March 31).

Williams, M. (2009). //Illustrated Guide to Food Preparation//. (10 th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.