THE GEORGIAN ROOM’S BLACK AND WHITE CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE

Makes 4 ramekins of Soufflé

This recipe is courtesy of executive pastry chef Artis Kalsons and executive chef Gavin Stephenson, of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle. It is told that president JFK visited the hotel in 1961 and stayed at the Olympic Hotel, now the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. According to local history, the president requested a firm mattress for his bad back. “He tested his mattress and found it still too soft. While he attended the University of Washington’s centennial celebration, officials at the Olympic had a factory in Tacoma stop production, make a new mattress and deliver it within a few hours.”

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE SOUFFLE:

  1. 1 cup milk
  2. ½ cup sugar, divided
  3. 6 Tbs. butter
  4. ½ cup unbleached white flour, sifted
  5. 5 whole eggs, separated into whites and yolks
  6. 5 Tbs. white chocolate shavings (or small chocolate chunks)
  7. 5 Tbs. dark chocolate shavings (or small chocolate chunks)

FOR VANILLA CREAM SAUCE:

  1. 1-1/2 cups heavy cream
  2. ½ cup milk
  3. 1 vanilla bean
  4. 4 egg yolks
  5. 1/3 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS:

FOR SOUFFLE:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium-size saucepan, bring the cup of milk and 3 tablespoons of the sugar to a boil. In a separate pan, melt the butter; add the flour and cook slightly. Whisk the hot milk and sugar into the flour-and-butter mixture and stir over low heat until thickened. Remove from heat and place in a mixer with a paddle on low speed. Mix until cooled, about 15 minutes. In the meantime, separate egg yolks from egg whites. Stir the yolks into the milk mixture, then stir in the chocolate shavings, but do not over-mix.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining 5 tablespoons of sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold the beaten egg whites into the soufflé mixture. Brush four ramekins with butter and dust them with sugar before filling them to ¼ inch below the rim. Place the ramekins in a baking pan and fill the pan with water halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake the ramekins in the water bath at 375 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with the vanilla cream sauce.

TO MAKE THE VANILLA CREAM SAUCE;

Place the cream and milk in a medium-size saucepan. With a sharp paring knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil. In a separate bowl, combine the yolks and sugar. Stir the boiling liquid into the yolk and sugar mixture. Place back on the stove over low heat and cook, stirring until the mixture is slightly thickened, for about 1 minute. Remove and strain. Chill before serving.