Souffle

I pride myself on being a good home cook.....

But I've never made a souffle....

In fact...

I've never even tasted a souffle!

I know what one should look like, because I do have a TV and a computer and the internet.  I have verbal descriptions online and from very few menus at restaurants to explain what a souffle should taste, look, and feel like.  However, I have NO CLUE what I'm doing when it comes to a souffle.

If I want to be a good home cook, I'm already there.  I know that.  I'm not being cocky or anything, I just happen to know I make good food.  It's not hard to be a good home cook, though, you don't have to know exotic techniques, you just have to be able to combine flavors, season things well, and generally not undercook things or burn them.  (Well, you can do both from time to time as long as you keep a pan hot to cook things further and a cheese grater on hand to grate off the burnt parts.)  It requires a little attention to detail, and paying attention to things like temperatures and times and things, but let's be honest, it's not HARD.  Otherwise a vast majority of us would not be using our mothers and grandmothers as the high standards that we hold all other cooks and chefs to when sampling new cuisine.  If it were easy, you'd rarely hear the words, "yes, that's good, but it's not like Mom used to make," or "it's good but it's not Grandma's apple pie, or X or Y or Z."  Instead, it's easy enough that enough of our matriarchs mastered the art well enough that almost everyone in our population utters those words quite often.  Or at least thinks them quite often.

Who's mother or grandmother regularly prepared a souffle?  If Julia Child had any children, perhaps they could make that claim.  For the rest of us....  we're left out here thinking WTF?!  What is a souffle and how do I cook one?!

Well, I can't tell you.  I just realized tonight that I have no clue, and it alarms me.  I can make you a hollandaise, which I hear is challenging but I've only had problems when dinner was delayed by more than an hour.....  I can do a steak anywhere from rare to well done with reasonable skill, but I obviously do better with a rare steak with 15 minutes notice than with a rare steak with 15 minutes notice then a 2 hr delay....

I must learn to cook a souffle.  My competitive spirit demands that I must master that skill.

When I take that plunge, I PROMISE to keep you updated with photos.

Stay hungry!