Chef Jeremy Desbraux and patissier Josselin Jacquet—of three-Michelin-starred B.Violier in Crissier, Switzerland—know a thing or two about French technique.
Young pastry chef Josselin Jacquet demonstrates the preparation of a light-as-air soufflé, served with a tart raspberry coulis.
The recipe calls for skimmed quark, a European-style cottage cheese that can be purchased from gourmet delicatessens. However, if you can’t get your hands on some, blended cottage cheese can be used as an easy substitute.
Jacquet also shared some tips for making sure you get good results for your soufflé every time:
Use fresh room temperature eggs. Sugar won’t dissolve as easily in cold eggs taken straight from the refrigerator; they're also harder to whip.
Grease your ramekins generously. Turning the ramekins in one hand, Jacquet brushes butter generously on the bottom and sides, dabbing the lip of the ramekin with butter as well.
Bang the filled ramekins on the counter. This brings up any bubbles in the batter and also levels off the top of the soufflé so you get a lovely flat top after baking.
Watch the clock. Jacquet meticulously sets a kitchen timer for exactly 10 minutes of baking time, with no opening and closing of the oven door to check on the soufflé as fluctuations in temperature will cause it to collapse.
Serve the soufflé immediately. Serving a soufflé fresh from the oven gives it no time to sink, and makes for a delicious tableside presentation.
Raspberry Soufflé
Makes one 13-cm souffléServes 4
For the raspberry sauce:
100 grams raspberries
20 grams sugar
5 grams lemon juice
1. Bring all the ingredients to a boil and stir well.
2. Sieve the mixture and set aside.
For the soufflé mass:
3 egg yolks
40 grams sugar
65 grams skimmed quark (or blended cottage cheese)
Blend the egg yolks and sugar; add the skimmed quark and refrigerate.
For the soufflé:
120 grams egg whites
75 grams sugar
50 grams of soufflé mass
15 grams tangerine liqueur (optional)
10 grams icing sugar
1. Using a stand mixer, beat the egg whites as you slowly add in the sugar followed by 50g of soufflé mass and tangerine liqueur till it reaches a glossy, runny consistency (see picture above).
2. Butter the soufflé mold generously, covering the lip of the ramekin as well (see picture above).
3. Fill the ramekin to the brim.
4. Place a folded kitchen towel on the countertop and bang the bottom of the filled ramekin down firmly a few times to bring up the bubbles.
5. Preheat an oven to 210°C and bake the soufflé for 10 mins. (If using the ventilation fan, reduce temperature to 190°C.)
6. Remove soufflé from oven and sprinkle with icing sugar.
7. Serve immediately with some of the raspberry sauce.
