Soufflés and Soft Scrambles
November Chef's Kisses
Hello friends! I hope you all had a lovely November and a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you celebrate), filled with delicious food shared with friends and family. As your attention is probably focused on all things holiday planning, I will keep this newsletter short and savory.
This month’s Chef’s Kisses (my favorite food-adjacent moments from the month) reflects the fact that I made very few trips to the grocery store or farmers market. I mostly ate eggs in soft scrambles with bread (and tons of different accompaniments) for delicious and quick lunches and whipped them into soufflés for breakfast and dinner. AKA an everything egg month.
If you are looking for some inspiration on what to bake this holiday season, I have a roundup of all my holiday recipes, including a few for cookies, pies, and cinnamon rolls (they’re amazing imho, perfect for Christmas morning). I’ve begun to bake through these old recipes (see photos above + a few more at the bottom of the newsletter), and will continue throughout the holiday season. You can keep tabs on all of that on Substack Notes! And I’ll have three more recipes coming to your inbox next month.
This Giving Tuesday, support Project EATS Give to Grow program, donations will be matched dollar for dollar. When you give to Project EATS, you support local farms, outreach programs, and equitable food access across New York City. Plus, you can sign up for a free month of Playing With Food.
Soft Scrambles
Scrambled eggs were a big part of my childhood – quick to prepare and delicious, they were served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My mother also believes protein can cure any ailment, so whenever I was ill, a scrambled egg was part of the treatment.
With that being said, scrambles are my husband’s least favorite way to eat an egg, so I’ve cooked them far less in recent years. With that being said I seized the opportunity to go big on soft scrambles this month as he was home visiting family.
My soft scramble method of choice right now: I take 2-3 eggs, crack them into a cup with some salt (sometimes a dash of heavy cream if I want them fluffier), and then blend with an immersion blender. This takes a fraction of the time as using a fork and creates a perfectly homogenous scramble (two forks stacked on top of each other is a chef-recommended method I’ve seen, but I would rather wash one immersion blender and save a bunch of time).
Next, I set a non-stick pan over medium-low or medium heat and add a pat of butter. As soon as the butter melts, I pour in the eggs. Then it’s just about constantly moving them in the pan with a soft spatula and breaking up the curds that form into smaller bits. If you ever notice it setting quicker than you would like, take it off the heat and continue moving the eggs around until they either need to go back on the heat, or are done to your liking. Even if you don’t need to remove them from the heat, I recommend taking them off just before they’re done, as the pan will retain heat and continue to cook them.
Once done, you have the option to fold in something creamy (soft cheese, crème fraîche, or more butter) and season optionally with pepper, before piling onto your plate or toast. More flavorful toppings are seemingly endless, but there are a few that are top of mind:
Spicy: chili crisp, chopped pickled peppers, hot sauce, sambal, and harissa
Savory: shaved hard cheeses, tapenade, capers, chopped tinned fish, and cured meats
Herby: chopped chives, dill, scallions, parsley, pesto
Not to mention the endless amount of raw or cooked vegetables you can add on top…
I made some truly delicious scrambled lunches this month: soft scramble with crème fraîche and chives on sourdough potato brioche-ish, pan con tomate topped with soft scramble and jamón ibérico, sourdough focaccia with arugula, soft scramble, and grated parm, and romesco spread over toast and topped simply with a soft scramble. Because all of these were made with prepared ingredients that I had on hand, each of these lunches took sub 10 minutes (some closer to 5).
By the time Théo returned, I had decided I would try to convince him how great soft scrambles are. I did this in secret – like parents sneaking vegetables into their toddler’s food, I was sneaking scrambled eggs into sandwiches. I did a grilled cheese (the Wylie Dufresne method, but with cheddar), a piadina with mortadella and radicchio (I should have added some chopped Calabrian chiles – then it would have been perfect, as mortadella already has a savory-salty-porky element without added texture or chew), a soft scramble with jambon beurre on homemade sourdough baguettes (I actually didn’t think this one would be very good, but it was a perfect combo with the custardy egg squishing into the baguette’s airy crumb structure), and of course, in a S.E.C. (sausage, egg, and cheese) featuring breakfast sausage (it’s easy and quite affordable to make your own blend if you purchase ground pork) and a sourdough english muffin (made from the same dough as the baguettes but cooked in clarified butter on the stove). Safe to say, I think I have converted him.
Soufflés
In the thick of the holiday season, I always gravitate towards soufflés. They’re warm, comforting, and feel special even though they are lighter than other dishes I crave.
It wasn’t until the night before Christmas ‘24, when eating a 5-soufflé dinner at Auberge Bressane, that I learned you can basically turn any flavor into a soufflé. The first course was a crab bisque soufflé appetizer that was nothing short of heavenly (see video above). Imagine soufflé custard with crab suspended throughout, and the crab Sauce Américaine was poured in, allowing for spoonfuls of richly flavored bisque mixed with crabby clouds of egg white. For dessert, we knew we wanted to order the soufflé sampler (chocolate, caramel, and flambéed Grand Marnier our favorite of the bunch). Théo then heard about the special sweet soufflé of the night, chestnut, a favorite flavor of his at Christmas time, and we ordered that as well. This was the moment I realized that I could, and probably should, turn some of my favorite dishes into soufflé.
So, I started off the soufflés, naturally, with an omelette version (since we’ve been eating so many eggs anyway). I learned about this dish last month while watching Top Chef France (I am trying to become proficient so I can speak with Théo’s family, and they say a good way to practice a language is watching TV). The contestants made one for a technical challenge, and I was very intrigued. The final result of mine would have probably landed me in the middle had I been competing; texturally, it was slightly overcooked (it should have a gooey-er center). Do note if you make your own that taste is very neutral (because it is essentially a soufflé without anything else added to flavor it), but I gave mine some peps (french for oomph, a new favorite word I’ve learned) by folding some cheddar and chives into the batter. I think it would be better with more flavorful omelette additions (such as mushrooms, spinach, ham, etc.).
This omelette soufflé brought to mind another breakfast-classic-turned-soufflé, the pancake. This version was a skillet soufflé pancake, and I largely followed the linked recipe, but made a few adjustments (the most important being skipping the Swiss meringue step, and whipping the eggs with 15g of sugar for a lightly sweetened pancake, perfect for topping with maple syrup). This was fantastic; it really tasted like a pancake with the texture of a soufflé. Highly recommend.
Then there was the cheese-fondue-fflé. As someone whose stomach cannot handle copious quantities of cheese, fondue has always been something to be admired, not acquired. The closest I dare to venture is the annual mac and cheese, in my mind, they are not too dissimilar as they are both melty cheese sauces delivered into your mouth with the help of some carbs. So, I thought to myself, why not make a fondue base (which is like a béchamel used for soufflés but subbing the milk for wine), and then continue with a standard cheese soufflé – egg yolks whisked into the fondue cheese sauce, and whites whipped with salt and folded in. I baked it up and served it alongside some classic fondue dips: bread, potatoes, and a sturdy veg (in this case, bitter radicchio). I would absolutely make this again, and probably will over the Christmas break next month – it will be a delicious puzzle snack.
P.S. If you want a very Christmas-y soufflé recipe from me, there is last year’s Salzburger Nockerl. I will be re-making it next month, and I have one more idea for a soufflé-ified dessert in the works…
Bite-Sized
I could not end this November newsletter without talking about all of the ‘pies’ I made for Thanksgiving. I’ve been talking about pie a lot on Notes recently, and not just because I’ve posted three pie recipes this month, but also because for Thanksgiving I made a pie-shaped Thanksgiving spread, something I’ve been wanting to do for years. Since there were only four of us, the spread and pie sizes were small, but made the Chicken Pot Pie, Mile High Apple Pie, and the Pecan and Pumpkin Double Crusted Pie recipes (more photos on notes). One day, I hope to host an even larger Thanksgiving, and pie-ify many more dishes (I now know exactly which ones I’ll do).
At the top of the month, I went to a dinner by Andy Baraghani for Maille at Franks House. Over forkfuls of sausage dragged through delicious mustards, I asked my table neighbors what their favorite chocolate chip cookie in the city is, and thus unfolded a spirited discussion. I added some new spots to my list, and this is now my go-to ice-breaker. In case you’re wondering about my suggestion, both Elena Besser and I agree, our favorite thick cookie is from Funny Face Bakery.
At that same party, I noticed Tara Thomas’ beautiful Charlotte Chesnais ring, and we began salivating over her collab with Christofle. I never thought it would happen, but I found myself gushing, ‘It’s certainly the sexiest flatware set I’ve ever seen.’
Ranch dressing and cabbage. I mostly make my ranch with yogurt, a little bit of mayonnaise, garlic, lemon zest and juice, chives, dill, and sometimes a little parsley. It comes together so quickly and makes everything more delicious. I have especially been loving it on shaved cabbage (although it’s also great in a wedge salad). Super quick to make, fun to eat (lots of crunch), and a great vehicle for fiber and vitamins.
Sort of food-related, DAMDAM Tokyo sent me some of their products back in September, and I have noticed a marked improvement in my skin over the last few months. I’ve been using the Mochi Mochi Moisturizer, Silk Rice Cleansing Oil, and Citrus Glow Vitamin C Serum. I had virtually no breakouts (just the occasional pimple), and this is the best my skin has looked in years.
Finally, I would highly suggest going for a walk in Prospect Park ASAP. Head over to the lake to see the foliage reflecting off the water, and then go see Monet and Venice (or vice versa).
Eggs are so satisfying. I often make omelets for lunch or a soft scramble alongside some kind of hash. A crispy egg with a runny yolk is perfect on an Asian noodle dish.