For a recipe, I turned to trusty Martha Stewart. And it was a Lemon Souffle recipe at that. Taken from the "Leave Room For..." section of her January 2010 Issue, I set about gathering my ingredients together.
Everything went well and when it came time to fold - the crucial part where you mix the egg whites with the remainder of the batter, losing as little of the volume from the egg whites as possible - I took it nice and easy.
When I learned to make meringue, I watched my Mom fold the egg whites; she wouldn't let me do it because she knew that chances were, it being my first time "folding", I would ruin it. She was right. But having watched her do it once, and then practiced at least a few times after (I've made meringue several times and chiffon cake at least a few times), I was certain that I had the hang of it. Rotate the whisk while you incorporated the egg whites; mix as little as possible, and always, always keep the volume.
Things looked good even after I'd spooned the mixture into each of the ramekins (the yield was much greater than I'd anticipated; Martha Stewart must enjoy monster-sized souffles), and I watched carefully as they grew in the oven. I made one tiny mistake with the paper collars, putting the parchment inside the ramekins rather than outside. I didn't have any oven-safe tape or kitchen/baking twine to hold it in any case.
In the oven, the souffles rose and rose until I worried that the collars wouldn't be enough to hold them; odd, considering how many people had trouble with the rising of their souffle. After taking them out, I immediately thought they looked funny; unlike the souffles that I've seen in pictures and online. I watched as they deflated (something that happens to all souffles which is why they should be served immediately) and after they cooled a little, I tried one.
And then I wondered: What is souffle supposed to taste like, exactly? Because mine didn't taste very good. They tasted extremely "eggy". I searched and searched online but couldn't find anything on why a souffle would taste "eggy". Tonnes of articles and reviews and tips about why it wouldn't rise but nothing on why it tastes "eggy". I ended up asking my Mom and even she didn't know. She asked if I had any problems with the rising and I told her no. If anything, I thought my batter was too airy, and the souffles too fluffy.
In the end, we blamed the recipe. Okay, I blame the recipe. Sure most of the recipes I've tried from Martha Stewart have been good but with this one, I wondered. Did they cut the recipe short so that it would fit on one page? Did they simplify it in order to get people to try it? With no where else to turn for answers, I turned to... Martha Stewart.
Haha. I'd forgotten that someone had bought me the Martha Stewart Cooking School Cook Book when I was actually thinking of where to get a souffle recipe, but I remembered that there is a souffle recipe in it after I'd failed at the Lemon Souffle. I looked up the recipe in the book (which is for a chocolate souffle) and read through the directions; they were more or less the same, though the book was certainly more detailed than the recipe from the magazine.
In the end, I think - unlike everyone else who tries to make souffle and fails - rather than over-mixing the egg whites and losing volume, I under-mixed them and had too much air in my souffles. That's why the texture was off and that's why they skyrocketed in the oven.
As for the eggy taste, it's beyond me. I can't figure it out. No one online has an answer for me, and it doesn't seem like I've done anything wrong according to either recipe. So yeah... Next time, I'm going to try the Chocolate Souffle recipe in the cookbook.
Hopefully it won't taste eggy.
