The soufflé is pretty egg intensive with 4 egg yolks and 5 egg whites required. I was relying on our home based chooks for a good supply of fresh eggs. This is challenging. Of the 6 chooks one is a Poland. This belongs to Caroline, who on receiving a "choosing and raising chickens" book as a gift identified the most ridiculous chook there was and exclaimed that was the one she wanted! The Poland has a huge ball like feather crest which almost blinds it. The book recommends that "a little care should be taken to ensure that they are not unintentionally frightened by sudden movements". Hence we now have a Poland chook - which is actually quite staunch (despite the crest) and holds her own with the 5 brown shavers. A Poland egg is pretty small so the pressure was on the other girls. This meant we needed to ensure that we locked them in a night! They are 3 year old ex-battery hens so production is not at the highest and one of the blighters has decided what she has produced is worth a peck or two! Despite the odds I was able to secure the necessary number of eggs.
I had been feeling quite intimidated by the thought of a soufflé and the potential inability to get it up. I avoided potential embarrassment by just having family as the witness to this dish. I had already embarrassed myself enough for one day (apparently) by wearing a grey t-shirt of Imke's who informed me that I had been paraded around the streets of Napier with her pj top on! However with Julia's guidance and fresh eggs I was feeling pretty confident (even though I was still wearing my daughters pj top). This was knocked slightly when the soufflé was in the oven and I did a quick google search on how to serve a soufflé. Crickey all of a sudden I was filled with apprehension... was the egg white stiff enough... I totally forgot to smooth the top with the knife... should I have attended to the rubber seal around the oven door that was falling off... where is the oven light so I can see inside... does this oven even have a light!
It all worked out... the soufflé was high and light and honey coloured as our lab.
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| 5 eggs! You have to be joking! |
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| Intensive yellow egg yolks |
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| 2 out of 3 people thumbs up with 1 interested lab |
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