The track record of the Elegant but Easy Cookbook speaks for itself. Almost 40 years and 500,000 copies in print is the figure of best-selling novels, not cookbooks. Yet co-authors Marian Burros and Lois Levine have endured, and The New Elegant but Easy Cookbook is destined to continue the tradition. The concept for the book hasn't changed:
Shortly after Le Cirque 2000 opened in New York City, I was assigned to write story about the restaurant. Standing in the kitchen watching the action, I notice the pastry chef, Jacques Torres, scoop up some ready-made souffle batter, put it into dish, and prepare to bake it. Jacques said he was able to make the batter several hours in advance and hold it. I told him that the only kind I had been able to fashion had to be frozen. Was it possible, I wondered, to make a souffle batter in the morning and use it at night?
He said he was going to try, and a few weeks later he had come up with a souffle batter that would hold for 12 hours in the refrigerator. The secret? An Italian meringue-one that is slightly cooked, giving the whites more stability.
Here is the recipe, with many thanks to Jacques.
You will need a scale to measure the chocolate and a candy thermometer to the meringue.
1/3 cup plus 11/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Scant 1/2 cup water
8 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 pint heavy cream, sweetened (optional)
Place the chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl. Bring the half-and-half almost to a boil and pour over the chocolate immediately. Allow to stand for 30 seconds, then stir until the chocolate has melted.
Bring an inch or two of water to a boil in a small pot with a diameter smaller than the bottom of the bowl in which the chocolate was melted.
Mix the cocoa with the scant 1/2 cup water; the mixture will not be smooth. Stir the paste into the melted chocolate and place the bowl over the boiling water. Whisk briskly until the chocolate mixture is smooth and very hot. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer.
Combine the sugar and 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan and stir to dissolve. Place over medium-high heat with a candy thermometer in the pan and cook the mixture to 250 degrees. Watch carefully; when the sugar-water mixture reaches 250 degrees, immediately move it from the heat. Beat the egg whites for 5 seconds on high speed and then slowly pour the hot sugar down the side of the bowl, continuing to beat the whites. (Be careful not to pour the hot sugar onto the beaters because it will splatter.) Continue beating the meringue until the outside of the bowl is warm, not hot.
Fold one-third of the meringue into the chocolate. Then fold the remaining meringue to the meringue-chocolate mixture.
Butter and sugar the inside of a 7-inch-diameter souffle dish. Make a collar of wax paper for the dish by folding a length of wax paper in half and in half again. Then butter it and attach it to the souffle dish using tape or a rubber band, leaving an inch or so above the edge of the dish. Spoon the souffle into the dish; cover lightly with foil and refrigerate for up to 12 hours.
To serve, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Thirty minutes before baking, remove the souffle from the refrigerator and remove if. Bake the souffle 15 to 20 minutes, or until a straw or cake tester inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Remove wax paper.
Meanwhile, whip cream and sweeten, if using. Serve immediately, plain or with sweetened whipped cream.
