Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1 Read online

  Remove from heat and immediately beat in the egg yolks one by one. Taste for seasoning.

  5 egg whites

  A pinch of salt

  ⅓ cup (1½ ounces) grated Swiss cheese

  Beat the egg whites and salt until stiff. Stir one fourth of them into the soufflé mixture. Stir in the cheese. Delicately fold in the rest of the egg whites.

  Filling the mold

  Turn a third of the soufflé mixture into the prepared mold. Cut the poached fish filets into 2-inch strips about ½ inch wide, and arrange half of them over the soufflé. Cover them with half the remaining soufflé mixture, and arrange the rest of the filets over it. Cover them with the last of the soufflé mixture.

  Baking the soufflé

  1 Tb grated Swiss cheese

  Sprinkle the cheese on top, and set the mold in the middle level of the preheated, 400-degree oven. Immediately reduce heat to 375 degrees, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the soufflé has puffed and browned and a needle or knife plunged into the side of the puff comes out clean. While the soufflé is cooking, prepare the following sauce as an accompaniment. Serve the soufflé as soon as it is done.

  Sauce Mousseline Sabayon (1½ cups)

  3 egg yolks

  ½ cup whipping cream

  The ¼ cup concentrated fish liquor

  A 4-cup enameled saucepan and a wire whip

  Beat the egg yolks, cream, and fish liquor over low heat until they gradually thicken into a light cream that coats the wires of the whip (165 degrees). Do not overheat or the egg yolks will scramble.

  6 ounces (1½ sticks) softened butter divided into 10 pieces

  Off heat, beat in the butter a piece at a time, beating until each is almost absorbed before adding another. The sauce will thicken like a hollandaise.

  Salt and pepper

  Lemon juice if necessary

  Taste carefully for seasoning, and add drops of lemon juice if you feel they are needed. Keep sauce over tepid—not hot—water, and when the soufflé is done, pour the sauce into a warm sauceboat to accompany the soufflé.

  VARIATIONS

  Soufflé de Homard

  Soufflé de Crabe

  Soufflé aux Crevettes

  [Lobster, Crab or Shrimp

  Soufflé]

  Use the same soufflé mixture as in the preceding recipe, with about ¾ cup of ground flounder filets. Instead of poached fish filets in the center of the soufflé, use:

  ⅔ cup cooked diced lobster, crab, or shrimp

  2 Tb butter

  ¼ tsp salt

  Pinch of pepper

  3 Tb Madeira, sherry, or dry white vermouth

  Cook the diced shellfish gently in the butter and seasonings for 3 minutes. Then add the wine, cover the pan, and simmer for 1 minute. Raise heat and let liquid boil off quickly.

  Filets de Poisson en Soufflé

  [Fish Soufflé Baked on a Platter]

  A soufflé will also rise impressively when baked on a platter. This recipe is lighter than the preceding fish soufflé as it has no ground fish in its sauce base and only one egg yolk.

  For 6 people

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  ½ lb. skinless flounder filets

  ½ cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth

  ½ tsp salt

  Pinch of pepper

  1 Tb minced shallots or green onions

  Measure out ingredients. Poach the fish filets for 8 to 10 minutes in wine, seasonings, and shallots as described in filets poached in white wine. Drain out all the cooking liquor and boil it down in an enameled saucepan until it has reduced to ¼ cup. Set it aside for your sauce mousseline sabayon. Turn oven up to 425 degrees.

  2½ Tb butter

  3 Tb flour

  A 2½-quart saucepan

  1 cup boiling milk

  ½ tsp salt

  Pinch of pepper

  Pinch of nutmeg

  1 egg yolk

  Cook the butter and flour slowly in the saucepan for 2 minutes without coloring. Off heat, beat in the boiling milk and seasonings. Boil, stirring, for 1 minute. Off heat, beat in the egg yolk. Check seasoning.

  4 or 5 egg whites

  Pinch of salt

  ½ cup (2 ounces) coarsely grated Swiss cheese

  Beat the egg whites and salt until stiff. Stir one fourth of them into the soufflé base. Stir in all but two tablespoons of the cheese. Delicately fold in the rest of the egg whites.

  A buttered oval fireproof platter about 16 inches long

  Spread a ¼-inch layer of soufflé in the bottom of the platter. Flake the poached fish filets and divide into 6 portions on the platter. Heap the rest of the soufflé mixture over the fish, making 6 mounds. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and set on a rack in upper third of preheated 425-degree oven. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until soufflé has puffed and browned on top.

  Ingredients for 1½ cups sauce mousseline sabayon

  Meanwhile, prepare the sauce as directed in the master fish soufflé recipe. Pass it separately in a warm sauce-boat.

  SOUFFLÉ DÉMOULÉ, MOUSSELINE

  [Unmolded Soufflé]

  Most unmolded soufflés are heavy, puddinglike affairs, but this one is light and delicious. You bake it slowly in a pan of water for over an hour, and then unmold it. Although it does not rise as high as its molded relatives, it sinks only a little bit, and may be kept warm for a good 30 minutes before it is served. You may adapt any of the soufflé combinations in the preceding recipes for unmolding if you use the same number of egg yolks and egg whites, and the same cooking method specified in the following recipe. Unmolded cheese soufflé makes a handsome first course, and a fine main course surrounded by or accompanied with chicken livers, sausages, mushrooms, green peas, or asparagus tips.

  For 6 people as a first course; 4, as a main course

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  1½ cups tomato sauce or fresh tomato purée or 78

  Set the tomato sauce to simmering.

  ½ Tb butter

  An 8-cup soufflé mold, preferably one 4 inches deep

  2 Tb finely grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese

  Butter your mold heavily, especially on the bottom so the soufflé will unmold easily. Roll cheese around in it to cover the bottom and sides.

  2½ Tb butter

  3 Tb flour

  A 2½-quart saucepan

  A wooden spoon

  ¾ cup boiling milk

  A wire whip

  ½ tsp salt

  Big pinch of pepper

  Pinch of nutmeg

  Stir the butter and flour over moderate heat in the saucepan until they foam and froth together for 2 minutes without coloring. Off heat, vigorously beat in the boiling milk, then the seasonings. Boil over moderate heat, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

  3 egg yolks

  A wire whip

  One by one, beat the egg yolks into the hot sauce. Correct seasoning.

  6 egg whites

  A pinch of salt

  1 cup (4 ounces) coarsely grated Swiss cheese, or a combination of Swiss and Parmesan

  In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until stiff peaks are formed. Stir one fourth of the egg whites into the sauce base; then stir in the cheese. Delicately fold in the rest of the egg whites.

  Turn the mixture into the prepared mold, which the soufflé will fill by about two thirds. Set in a pan and pour boiling water around the mold to come up to the level of the soufflé mixture. Place in middle level of preheated oven and bake for about 1¼ hours. Regulate heat so water in pan never quite simmers—this is important; soufflé must cook slowly. The soufflé is done when it has risen about half an inch over the top of the mold, is brown and crusty, and has just begun to show a faint line of shrinkage from the sides of the mold.

  Turn a warm serving plate over the soufflé; reverse them. Then, clamping mold and plate together, give a sharp downward jerk or two, and the soufflé will dislodge itself. If the mold was properly buttered, and the soufflé
sufficiently cooked, it will unmold perfectly, and present a golden brown exterior. Surround the soufflé with the tomato sauce, and serve. In the case of blemishes, pour the sauce over the soufflé and decorate with parsley.

  (*) For a wait of 30 minutes or so, leave the soufflé unmolded in its pan of hot water, and return to hot, turned-off oven with door ajar.

  SOUFFLÉ AUX BLANCS D’OEUFS

  [Cheese Soufflé with Egg Whites Only]

  The following light soufflé with its strong cheese flavor is one way of using leftover egg whites. Remember that egg whites take well to freezing, so you can make a collection and do the soufflé when you have the right amount. One egg white equals 2 tablespoons.

  If you wish to make this type of soufflé with other flavorings, substitute ⅔ cup of ground fish, chicken, sweetbreads, ham, or vegetables for two thirds of the diced cheese.

  For 4 people

  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

  A 6-cup soufflé mold

  Butter the soufflé mold and sprinkle with grated cheese. Measure out your ingredients.

  2½ Tb butter

  3 Tb flour

  A 2½-quart saucepan

  ¾ cup simmering light cream

  ½ tsp salt

  ⅛ tsp pepper

  Big pinch of nutmeg

  Cook the butter and flour slowly together in the saucepan for 2 minutes without coloring. Off heat, beat in the simmering cream and seasonings. Boil, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

  6 or 7 egg whites (¾ to ⅞ cup) Big pinch of salt

  ¾ cup (3 ounces) coarsely grated Swiss cheese

  ¾ cup (3 ounces) Swiss cheese cut into ¼-inch dice

  Beat the egg whites and salt until stiff. Stir one fourth of them into the soufflé mixture. Stir in all but a tablespoon of the grated cheese, then the diced cheese. Fold in the rest of the egg whites.

  Turn mixture into the prepared mold, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, and set in middle level of pre heated, 400-degree oven. Immediately reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until soufflé has puffed and browned. Serve immediately.

  TIMBALES DE FOIES DE VOLAILLE

  [Unmolded Chicken Liver Custards]

  These delicate little entrées (also called mousses, pains, and soufflés) are usually baked in individual ramekins and served hot with a béarnaise sauce. Or you can bake the ingredients in one large ring mold and fill the center with the sauce. It can be prepared very quickly in an electric blender, but if you do not have one, put the livers through a meat grinder, push them through a sieve, then beat in the rest of the ingredients.

  For 4 cups serving 8 people

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  1½ Tb butter

  2 Tb flour

  1 cup boiling milk

  ¼ tsp salt

  Pinch of pepper

  Make a thick béchamel sauce in a small saucepan by cooking the butter and flour together until they foam for 2 minutes without coloring. Off heat, beat in the boiling milk and seasonings. Boil, stirring, for 1 minute. Allow to cool while preparing other ingredients, beating occasionally.

  1 lb. or about 2 cups of chicken livers

  2 eggs

  2 egg yolks

  ¼ tsp salt

  ⅛ tsp pepper

  Place the livers, eggs, egg yolks, and seasonings in the blender, cover, and blend at top speed for 1 minute.

  6 Tb whipping cream

  2 Tb port, Madeira, or cognac

  Add the cool béchamel sauce, cream, and wine to the liver and blend for 15 seconds. Strain through a sieve into a bowl.

  Optional: 1 chopped, canned truffle

  Stir in the optional truffle and correct seasoning. (*) If not used immediately, cover and refrigerate.

  1 Tb butter

  8 ramekins of ½-cup capacity, or a 4-cup ring mold

  Butter the interior of the ramekins or mold heavily. Pour in the liver mixture filling each ramekin or the mold to within about ⅛ inch of the top.

  A pan containing 1 to 1½ inches of boiling water

  Set in pan of boiling water, then place on a rack in middle level of preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until a needle or knife plunged into the center comes out clean, and the timbales have just begun to show a line of shrinkage from the ramekins.

  (*) If not served immediately, leave in hot turned-off oven, with door ajar, for 15 to 20 minutes.

  2 cups sauce béarnaise

  Run a knife around the edge of each timbale and reverse onto a serving platter or serving plates. Top each with a spoonful of sauce, and pass the rest of the sauce separately.

  VARIATIONS

  Using the same proportions and method, substitute for the chicken livers any of the following cooked ingredients: ham, chicken, turkey, sweetbreads, salmon, lobster, crab, scallops, mushrooms, asparagus tips, or spinach.

  Other Sauces

  Sauce Aurore, béchamel or velouté with cream and a flavoring of tomato paste

  Sauce Madère, brown sauce with Madeira wine

  Sauce Périgueux, brown sauce with truffles

  Sauce Estragon, brown sauce with tarragon

  PUFFS, GNOCCHI, AND

  QUENELLES

  PTE À CHOUX

  [Cream Puff Paste]

  Pâte à choux is one of those quick, easy, and useful preparations like béchamel sauce which every cook should know how to make. Probably the only reason for the packaged mix, which in addition to its purchase price requires fresh eggs and hot water, is that most people do not realize cream puff paste is only a very, very thick white sauce or panade of flour, water, seasonings, and buttter, into which eggs are beaten. The eggs make the paste swell as it cooks. For half the price of a packaged mix, and in less than ten minutes, you can make your own cream puff paste with the good taste of fresh butter.

  Baked just as it is in the following recipe or mixed with cheese, pâte à choux becomes puffs for hors d’oeuvres. Sweetened with sugar, it is ready to be cream puffs. When mashed potatoes or cooked semolina is beaten in, it turns into gnocchi. And with ground fish, veal, or chicken, it is quenelle paste, or can become a mousse.

  For about 2 cups

  A 1½-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan

  1 cup water

  3 ounces (6 Tb or ¾ stick) butter cut into pieces

  1 tsp salt

  ⅛ tsp pepper

  Pinch of nutmeg

  Bring water to boil with the butter and seasonings and boil slowly until the butter has melted. Meanwhile measure out the flour.

  ¾ cup all-purpose flour (scooped and leveled)

  Remove from heat and immediately pour in all the flour at once. Beat vigorously with a wooden spatula or spoon for several seconds to blend thoroughly. Then beat over moderately high heat for 1 to 2 minutes until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and the spoon, forms a mass, and begins to film the bottom of the pan.

  4 eggs (U.S. graded “large”)

  Remove saucepan from heat and make a well in the center of the paste with your spoon. Immediately break an egg into the center of the well. Beat it into the paste for several seconds until it has absorbed. Continue with the rest of the eggs, beating them in one by one. The third and fourth eggs will be absorbed more slowly. Beat for a moment more to be sure all is well blended and smooth.

  Pâte à choux for Dessert Puffs

  For dessert puffs, only a suggestion of sugar—1 teaspoon—is added to boil with the water and butter in the preceding recipe, and the salt is reduced from 1 teaspoon to a pinch. Otherwise there is no difference in ingredients or method.

  Leftover pâte à choux

  Pâte à choux is usually employed as soon as it is made, and while it is still warm. If it is not used immediately, rub the surface with butter and cover with waxed paper to prevent a skin from forming over it. If your recipe then specifies warm pâte à choux, beat it vigorously in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat for a moment until it is smooth and free from lumps and is barely warm to your finger. Be very caref
ul not to warm it to more than tepid or the paste will lose its puffing ability. Pâte à choux may be kept under refrigeration for several days, or it may be frozen. Reheated gently as just described, it will produce a good small puff; large puffs may not always rise as high as those made with fresh paste.

  If you wish to make hot hors d’oeuvres in a hurry, leftover pâte à choux can help you. Beat 3 or 4 tablespoons of heavy cream into ½ cup of warmed pâte à choux, then several tablespoons of grated cheese, minced ham, or minced clams. Spread the mixture on crackers, toast, or triangles of bread, pop them into a hot oven, and in 15 minutes you will have lovely puffed canapés.

  PUFF SHELLS

  Choux

  You cannot fail with puff shells—as mounds of pâte à choux puff and brown automatically in a hot oven—if you take the proper final measures to insure the shells remain crisp. A perfect puff is firm to the touch, tender and dry to the taste. Hot puffs will seem perfectly cooked when taken from the oven, but, if left as they are, they will become soggy as they cool because there is always an uncooked center portion that gradually spreads its dampness through to the outside crust. To prevent this sad effect, small puffs are punctured to release steam; large puffs are slit, and often their uncooked centers are removed. This is actually the only secret to puff making.