Eggs - how do you like ´em?

[aero280 Profile]

One of the German standards that we like is "Strammer Max". It's an ideal snack for one of the meals of the day. It's just bread, sliced ham, fried egg and a few pickles. But done well, it's great.

[Suffs Profile]

We eat lots of eggs ... my lunch yesterday was a two egg omelette with snipped chives fresh from the garden. One of OH’s favourite lunches is a couple of poached eggs on wholemeal toast, buttery scrambled eggs on toast, with chives in the summer, is another favourite lunch ... and then there’s Gypsy toast, not to mention a well made ‘full English’.

A frequent Sunday breakfast is dippy eggs with toasty soldiers. A soufflé is a favourite lunch ... crab souffle, cheese souffle, asparagus souffle, blue cheese and broccoli souffle, you name it and I’ll make a souffle out of it. And then there’s quiches... tonight’s supper will be an asparagus quiche. Another favourite summer bake is a sausage and egg plate pie ... great to take on a picnic.

Always free range eggs, preferably local, and organic if we can get them.

This is a great supplier down in my old stamping ground, and our local Wrose stocks them http://www.maplefarmkelsale.co.uk/

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

I think I may have to visit you for a master class on how to make a soufflé Suffs... however, this will be another thing that I make then have to eat all myself, so perhaps not

[Suffs Profile]

I just follow our dear FCQ’s basic souffle recipe ... which I think is based on Elizabeth David’s.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Tried to look up that FCQ recipe, but Wildfood seems to have completely disappeared now

The Donah Dewar (college) recipe I used has 5 yolks and 3 whites, whereas the Elizabeth David standard recipe switches the proportion round with 4 yolks and 5 whites. Why not just go for 4 yolks and 4 whites?

http://www.sakkarin.co.uk/foodforumpix/ ... recipe.jpg

https://git.macropus.org/bbc-food/www.b ... uffle.html

I know that Donah Dewar created her recipe for maximum decadence, and it does have a very deep yellow colour as a testament to the extra yolks...

I fancy a souffle later, I'll make it with 2 yolks and 2 whites.

[Suffs Profile]

I’ve got FCQ’s souffle recipe written down ... (long-hand in a book ). I’ll copy it out on here if anyone wants it ... when I’ve brought some sort of order to the kitchen .., I’ve got sourdough on the go and a quiche in the oven, and I’ve sliced up and frozen the remains of yesterday’s roast ... the kitchen's a right mess :roll'

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Whilst I agree 100% that everyone should learn to make a proper souffle, or at least try, some people do struggle with them.

At cookery classes we did Delia's twice baked ones which are very easy and useful sometimes as they are made, kept in the fridge and heated as required so there's no need for everyone to be ready at the table. Nothing's as good as the real thing but I was pleased to know about these.

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/mai ... ith-chives

[Suffs Profile]

Frenchcheesequeen's Basic Cheese Souffle recipe

1 tbspn plain flour
1 tbspn butter
150 ml full fat milk (can use skimmed) warmed gently
pinch Cayenne pepper
150g mature Cheddar ... grated ....... or crumbled blue cheese

2 yolks from extra large eggs
4 whites from extra large eggs

A 7" souffle dish, well buttered

Pre-heat oven with tray inside to 180C

Make a roux with butter, flour and warm milk and cook gently for four mins to cook flour.
You are looking for a thick white sauce at this stage.
Allow to cool off a bit then add cayenne, egg yolks and stir in most of the cheese.

At this stage it can be left 24 hours in the fridge if necessary.

When ready to cook, whisk the egg whites to a soft dropping consistency, and stir about a quarter into the cheese mixture.

Fold in the remaining whites and tip into the souffle dish, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and place in the oven for about 40 mins.


*my addition

[Suffs Profile]

Aparagus & cheese quiche - spelt pastry.jpg

Eggs for supper this evening ... four eggs in an Asparagus & Cheese Quiche

Whoops! Sorry it's so big.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

That looks absolutely glorious, Suffs!

[Suffs Profile]

Thank you KK ... praise from you is praise indeed

[Seatallan Profile]

Yum and then yum!!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I find soufflés fairly straightforward, one of the many things Fanny Craddock successfully demystified. To be honest I think they were tricky in the old days, but with an electric whisk and an oven with an accurate thermostat, not such a big deal

Fanny made a sweet 3-egg soufflé flavoured with citrus zest and served with a sauce made from the juice, as well as savoury ones but I now find that too eggy as a dessert

I’ve only made twice baked soufflés recently, they can be frozen which makes it worth preparing a batch even when alone

Suffs, is the 180C oven fan? It occurs to me I’ve only made the twice baked ones since I went over to fan

[Sakkarin Profile]

150 grammes of cheddar?!?! Are you sure Suffs? My recipe uses the equivalent of 10g for 150ml of milk!

Or to put it another way, that's five pizzasful of cheese!!!!!

[Suffs Profile]

Yes ... I've checked ... 150g cheese ... a cheese souffle should taste of cheese, not milk

And yes, 180C fan.

Here's a link to FCQ's post on Wildfood http://www.wildfood.info/viewtopic.php? ... le#p171210

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Ta Suffs

I used to make mushroom soufflés for my cheese hating OH - a little Parmesan may have crept in unbeknown to him

[Sakkarin Profile]

Good grief!

[Amyw Profile]

Um that’s cheesy .

Do you think it’d affect the overall structure of the soufflé if I reduced the amount of cheese ? I’d probably halve it myself .

Quiche looks lovely . Might make one this week now you’ve inspired me

[Suffs Profile]

She wasn't called French Cheese Queen for nothing

I use those proportions and I've never found it to be too cheesy ... is there such a thing as too much cheese? It's not something I've ever encountered

I use the recipe to make a crab soufflé, using a large dressed Cromer crab ... but I've never weighed the amount of crab meat.
A good thick bechamel and four whipped extra large egg whites can take quite a decent amount of weight ... there's no point in having a soufflé that just tastes of egg white

[Sakkarin Profile]

Yum!

I only used 35g of emmental however, which really wasn't punchy enough, especially as it's so mild. I see Liz David's recipe uses 56g of parmesan, clearly much stronger, and my recipe was ultimately supposed to be asparagus souffle which I converted to cheese only, so I guess the 20g of cheese in it (which I more than doubled, as I made half portion with two eggs) was a "note" rather than all out flavour.

P.S. I deliberately used equal egg to yolk, which worked.

EDIT: P.P.S. Made using hand power only with a balloon whisk.