FOLD, incorporer; To blend a fragile mixture, such as beated egg whites, delicately into a heavier mixture, such as a soufflé base.
FOLD, incorporer; To assimilate a sensitive person, such as yourself, smoothly into a sturdy environment, such as the editorial department, your mid-twenties, or New York City.
“Thanks to egg whites, we’re able to harvest the air, and make it an integral part of meringues and mousses, gin fizzes and soufflés and sabayons.” Harold McGee
The first couple years after college are (painful and confusing) like teething and puberty, except that your insecurities and anxieties are matured, aged, and your rind has stiffened slightly. It is important that you learn, at this time, how to stretch yourself and accommodate a variety of new experiences. Some of your twenty-something friends are miserable, working 9-5 (6,7,8) without the thanks enough to get out of bed in the morning without gritting their teeth. Some of your other friends are miserable, writing pieces of chapters of their novel between shifts at their respective cafes, all across America. Some more of your friends are miserably unemployed, getting to the bottom of their scrimped and saved savings accounts while others are miserably bored never quite knowing how to blow their inheritance. Yes, you have a dismal outlook.
Still, there is promise in all this misery, and its your job to inflate every bubble of hope, every hard-earned skill you crafted in college, and make something of yourself.
You are a chocolate soufflé. It is no easy task fine-tuning you. You have a complicated flavor.
No, for now you are egg whites, or the rubber spatula used to fold the egg whites, or the air, delicately harvested, within those egg whites. You require a chemist’s knowledge, for your elements are not easily mixed. You are the hand that stirs those egg whites, while another turns your bowl, counter clockwise, you are its velocity. You fall due to rapid movement. You are the bowl that holds those egg whites, turning ever-so-slowly against the force of a hand-held rubber spatula. You are time sensitive.
In Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child explains just how one should fold their egg whites for a soufflé:
First stir a big spoonful of egg whites into the soufflé mixture to lighten it. Then with a rubber scraper, scoop the rest of the egg whites on top. Finally, still using your rubber scraper, cut down from the top center of the mixture to the bottom of the saucepan, then draw the scraper quickly toward you against the edge of the pan, and up to the left and out. You are thus bringing a bit of the soufflé mixture at the bottom of the pan up over the egg whites. Continue the movement while slowly rotating the saucepan, and rapidly cutting down, toward you, and out to the left, until the egg whites have been folded into the body of the soufflé. The whole process should not take more than a minute, and do not attempt to be too thorough. It is better to leave a few unblended patches than to deflate the egg whites.
and so,
CHOCOLATE SOUFFLÉ
from larousse gastronomique
Over a low heat, dissolve 3 ounces dark (semisweet) chocolate in 1 tablespoon milk taken from an 8ounce cup. Then add the remainder of the milk and bring to the boil. Beat 2 egg yolks with 1/3 cup superfine sugar until the mixture turns thick and white, then incorporate 1/4 cup all-purpose flour in a trickle. Gradually pour the boiling chocolate-flavored milk into the mixture, beating briskly. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Once it has boiled, transfer it to a large bowl and allow to cool. Butter an 8 inch soufflé mould and sprinkle it with 2 tablespoons sugar. Whisk 6 egg whites until they are stiff. Incorporate a further 2 egg yolks into the chocolate preparation, then carefully fold in the whites using a plastic spatula. Pour the mixture into the mould and cook in a preheated oven at 375º for 20 minutes. Then sprinkle the soufflé with confectioner’s sugar and return to the oven for 5 minutes to glaze the surface. Serve immediately.
