On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 217

withanegg-whitefoam,thendramatically
inflatedabovetheirdishbyovenheat—have
thereputationforbeingdifficultpreparations.
Certainlytheycanbeamongthemost
delicate,astheirname—Frenchfor“puffed,”
“breathed,”“whispered”—suggests.Infact,
soufflésarereliableandresilient.Many
soufflémixescanbepreparedhours,even
daysinadvance,andrefrigeratedorfrozen
untilneeded.Ifyoumanagetogetanyairinto
themix,aninexorablelawofnaturewillraise
itintheoven,andopeningthedoorforafew
secondswon’tdoitanyharm.Theinevitable
post-ovendeflationcanbeminimizedbyyour
choiceofingredientsandcookingmethod,
andcanevenbereversed.
EdibleInsulation
Egg foams are often used to cover and
conceal the heart of a dish. Among the
mostentertainingoftheseconstructionsis
the hot, browned meringue enclosing a


massofchillyicecream:thebakedAlaska,
which derives from the Frenchomelette
surprise. This thermal contrast is made
possible by the excellent insulating
propertiesofcellularstructureslikefoams.
For the same reason, a cup of cappuccino
cools more slowly than a cup of regular
coffee.

Thebasicideaofthesoufflé—andofeggleavenedcakesaswell—datesbackatleast
tothe17thcentury,whenconfectioners
noticedthata“biscuit”pasteofeggwhites
andsugarworkedinamortarwouldriseinthe
ovenlikealoafofbread.Sometimearound
1700,Frenchcooksbegantoincorporate
foamedwhitesintotheyolkstomakeapuffy
omelettesoufflée.Atmid-century,VincentLa
Chapellecouldofferfiveomelettessoufflées
and—underthenamestimbaleandtourte—
thefirstrecordedsoufflésaswenowknow
them,theirfoamsreinforcedwithpastry
cream,whichcametodisplacetheomelette