Kitchinspirations August Challenge: A la Julia

A couple of weeks ago, OakMonster from Hmm...Food...Good talked me into joining Kitchinspirations, a monthly cooking challenge blog. I figured it would be a good way to expand my cooking horizons even further from time to time. This month, the challenge is as follows:

And so this month ~ I challenge you to get to know Julia Child. Let her influence your cooking. Let her teach you something. Cook with Julia. If possible, or - if you haven't already, get your hands on a copy of Volume 1. Pick a recipe that inspires you - something you've always wanted to learn, to improve, or try for the first time. If you don't have a copy and don't want to buy just yet, ask around! As popular as this book has been, chances are it is in the collection of one of your friends or family members. Check the library, or (in Oregon) borrow from me.

Sounds like fun, right? I grew up watching her shows on PBS as a kid and have many fond memories of her descriptions of everything as "simple". Of course, to a little kid, nothing she made seemed simple at the time. I made my way to the kitchen, opened the bookcase to grab my copy of whatever Julia Child cookbook I had (I must have picked one up at an estate or rummage sale, right?) only to discover No Julia in the Collection. I checked a few times not believing the omission myself. Then, off to the bookstore I went. I picked up a copy of the classic Volume 1, and sat down with what I found to be a darned good read. Of course, I love butter, cream, and mushrooms, so how could I not love the book? Choosing what to make was the hard part. Eventually, I settled on the souffle au chocolat, or chocolate souffle.

It has been ages since I've played with folding whipped egg whites into anything, so I cheated and experimented first. On Friday we had some friends over for dinner and I made a recipe I found on Food and Wine for a Chocolate Souffle Sundae. It turned out pretty well, so I figured what the heck and decided to make the souffle for dessert after the parents brought over a ton of seafood for a boil dinner last night.

One warning to those who cook off the cuff and don't read a recipe in full before beginning: don't even attempt to do so with Miss Julia. She will find a way to make you miserable if you do. Fortunately, I did read the recipe through a few times before starting. I also decided to heck with a couple of her instructions and cheated with an easier route. I'm posting my version here. If you want the full real version, go get the book silly! You can find used copies for cheap.


Chocolate Souffle (based very heavily on Julia Child's Souffle au Chocolat on page 619 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking)

The Ingredients:
7oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup leftover coffee
1/2 Tbsp softened butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
3 Tbsp butter
4 eggs separated and 2 additional egg whites
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar

Special equipment: an 8in souffle dish

Oven preheat: 400F

1. Heat up your coffee to simmering. Stir in the chocolate and set aside to fully melt and cool.
2. Butter the souffle dish, place a buttered foil collar around it that comes up at least 3" above the top, and set it aside.
3. Put the flour in a saucepan, and slowly whisk in the milk. Add the butter and bring to a boil slowly. Boil for two minutes, stirring constantly, then take off the heat and continue to stir for another couple of minutes.
4. Beat the egg yolks just enough to break them up a bit, then temper them with a bit of the white sauce. Once fully tempered, add the egg yolks to the sauce a bit at a time. When fully incorporated, stir in the chocolate mixture, then the vanilla.
5. Whip the egg whites and salt in another bowl until they form soft peaks. Slowly begin to add the sugar and continue to whip until stiff shiny peaks are formed. Pretty much make it look like meringue.
6. Pour the chocolate mixture down the side of the mixing bowl, and fold it into the egg whites. When you no longer see streaks of white, pour the mixture into your souffle dish.
7. Place the souffle in the prepared oven, then turn it down to 375F. Bake 40 minutes for a softly set souffle, 45 for a firm set souffle.
8. Carefully remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before removing the collar. Remove the collar, and serve immediately with either whipped cream, custard cream, or vanilla ice cream.

My deviations include the chocolate melting method, tempering the eggs rather than hoping I could mix them into the sauce one by one without scrambling, and I skipped the powdered sugar topping for the last few minutes of baking. OK, I forgot the powdered sugar. It still turned out, OK? The family loved it, and wouldn't have missed the part that fell off when I removed the collar if I hadn't mentioned it.

Will I make this again? Absolutely. It was pretty, and it tasted great. Will I bother with the creme anglaise? Nope. Whipped cream will be just fine. And if some spills on the counter again, I'm calling it the cook's share and eating it when no one is looking.

Oh, and the best part? It really was as simple to make as Julia made everything on her show seem.

Beer tasting Dinner Part Three -- Dessert

Finally, dessert. TheTooth bought me a propane torch for the kitchen for Christmas, so I immediately set about making Creme Brulee. I chose a chocolate version for this dinner, which I suspect is now his favorite. Again, forgive the blurry shot. I'm still figuring this out. Just look at the small one, OK?

Dessert: Chocolate Creme Brulee Served with: Vanilla Bourbon Porter


This dessert is so simple to make that ordering it in a restaurant seems downright silly. Yes, it is not exactly light in the calories, but if you don't eat it everyday you should be OK. TheTooth likes a thicker solid crust on his so I deviate from almost every recipe. I'm sure you can broil this, but a torch is so much more fun. Trust me.

Chocolate Creme Brulee (my version, mixed up from about 10 others)

Serves 6

3 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
9 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ounce cocoa powder
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Enough turbinado sugar to cover your ramekins


1. Heat your oven to 300F.

2. Combine half the cream, and the granulated sugar in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat, make sure that the sugar dissolves.

3. Remove from heat, stir in chocolate and cocoa powder until melted and dissolved in the mixture.

4. Get out a roasting pan, place a clean kitchen towel in the bottom, and place your ramekins on the towel. Boil some water (enough to come 2/3 up the ramekins).

5. Once cream has cooled a bit and the chocolate is fully combined, stir in the rest of the cream. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until light in color. Whisk in the vanilla and about 1/4 cup of the cream mixture to begin tempering the eggs. Once that is combined, add in another 1/4 cup of the mixture. Do this once more, then add the rest of the cream mixture and whisk until fully combined. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a big pyrex measuring cup or other pitcher. Divide among your ramekins.

6. Carefully place the pan with the ramekins on an oven rack located in the lower third of your oven. Pour boiling water into the pan, but don't splash into the ramekins, until the water comes up 2/3 of the way of the ramekins. Bake until firm, which should take about 30 to 40 minutes, depending on your oven. Check it after 30 just to be safe.

7. Remove ramekins from pan to a cooling rack using rubber-banded tongs (thanks Alton Brown!) and cool to room temperature. Cover each tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.

8. When ready to serve, remove the plastic, and blot off any moisture from the custards with a paper towel. If you like a thinner crust, sprinkle the ramekin with a tablespoon or so of the turbinado, turning the dish to coat evenly, and tapping out the excess. If you like a thicker crust, pulverize about a cup of the sugar in your food processor (so you'll have extra for next time) until it is as fine as baking sugar. Use this to coat the ramekins in the above fashion.

9. Get out your torch, fire it up, and brown those tops. Be careful not to set the whole kitchen on fire. I suppose you could broil them until bubbly, but a torch gives a better crust and is just more darned fun!

The pairing worked OK, but we ended up having a ruby port with this.