with an egg-white foam, then dramatically inflated above their dish by oven heat — have the reputation for being difficult preparations Certainly they can be among the most delicate, as their name — French for “puffed,” “breathed,” “whispered” — suggests In fact, soufflés are reliable and resilient Many soufflé mixes can be prepared hours, even days in advance, and refrigerated or frozen until needed If you manage to get any air into the mix, an inexorable law of nature will raise it in the oven, and opening the door for a few seconds won’t do it any harm The inevitable post-oven deflation can be minimized by your choice of ingredients and cooking method, and can even be reversed Edible Insulation Egg foams are often used to cover and conceal the heart of a dish Among the most entertaining of these constructions is the hot, browned meringue enclosing a mass of chilly ice cream: the baked Alaska, which derives from the French omelette surprise This thermal contrast is made possible by the excellent insulating properties of cellular structures like foams For the same reason, a cup of cappuccino cools more slowly than a cup of regular coffee The basic idea of the soufflé — and of eggleavened cakes as well — dates back at least to the 17th century, when confectioners noticed that a “biscuit” paste of egg whites and sugar worked in a mortar would rise in the oven like a loaf of bread Sometime around 1700, French cooks began to incorporate foamed whites into the yolks to make a puffy omelette soufflée At mid-century, Vincent La Chapelle could offer five omelettes soufflées and — under the names timbale and tourte — the first recorded soufflés as we now know them, their foams reinforced with pastry cream, which came to displace the omelette ... properties of cellular structures like foams For the same reason, a cup of cappuccino cools more slowly than a cup of regular coffee The basic idea of the soufflé — and of eggleavened cakes as well — dates back at least to the 17th century, when confectioners...mass of chilly ice cream: the baked Alaska, which derives from the French omelette surprise This thermal contrast is made possible by the excellent insulating properties of cellular structures like foams... The basic idea of the soufflé — and of eggleavened cakes as well — dates back at least to the 17th century, when confectioners noticed that a “biscuit” paste of egg whites and sugar worked in a mortar would rise in the oven like a loaf of bread Sometime around 1700, French cooks began to incorporate