How do you make a cheese soufflé golden and also prevent it from collapsing when you serve it?
You must cook it at a very low temperature while it’s rising, and once it has risen, raise the temperature of the oven until it becomes golden. If you cook it right away with a high temperature, when the outer crust becomes too cooked the interior will not be cooked enough and the soufflé will collapse. And if you ONLY cook it at a low temperature, it will not become golden.
Question: When you cook a chicken, do you have to heat the oven before putting it inside?
Answer: No, otherwise it will become dry.
Question: What about beef?
Answer: Yes, otherwise it will lose its juice and become dry and hard.
Question: Should you take the beef out of the oven right away after it has been cooked, or leave it in the oven while it cools down?
Answer: Leave it in the oven, which will keep it warm without cooking it any more, about 10 minutes before serving.
Why?
Believe in the experience of cooks, or ask a scientist to give a chemical or physical explanation. (While keeping the food warm, the temperature becomes homogenous between the outer crust and the interior of the beef, and the blood coagulates; if not, when you cut it, the beef will lose all its blood, and the meat will become dry and hard.
Question: Should you add sugar to a tart before you put it in the oven, or only at the end after it has been cooked?
Answer: Only at the end.
Question: Do you have any more of these great tricks?
Answer: Come to a cooking class and find out!
