Souffle help?

Suddenly and for no reason that I can really fathom, my last 3 souffles didn't souff (or whatever it is).
Perhaps I cut the recipes back too much. I'm trying to make 2 servings, and most recipes are to serve 4, 6 or 8.

Does anybody have a sure-fire souffle recipe that will make 2 servings? I'm thinking of a lemon (Ok, Lime!) souffle at the moment, because our Bearss lime bush out in front is spitting out limes all over the place.

John

Dear John,

That is really frustrating. I've had my bechamel fail due to too much fat, but at least I had the opportunity to try again, and "only" wasted a cup of cream and a few ounces of butter (though with the price of organic dairy, that wasn't free). Are you whipping the eggs right before folding them in, with tartaric acid, and whipping until stiff but still smooth? That's all I know how to do.

Walt

<sigh> I spent half an hour cruising the store last time I was there, looking for cream of tartar. Failed. Of course I whipped the egg whites at the very last minute and barely folded them it.
I fear it may be that cutting down the recipe makes the egg whites behave differently.

John

Dear John,
Assuming the Safeway in Santa Clara is the same as Livemore, they have cream of tartar in both Spice Islands and McCormick. Outrageously overpriced, of course, but it couldn't hurt to try.

I haven't had a problem cutting souffles in half, except for the difficulty of figuring out doneness.

Good luck next time!

Walt

P.S. Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking" has a few pages on souffles, maybe there's a clue there.

John,

I found this recipe that says it serves 2:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-452711.html

Not sure if it will help. I have never made a souffle, so I can't give any advice.

Probably won't help you now, but if you procure a copper bowl, you'll never need cream of tartar.

Walt,
I found the cream tartar today. Someone had parked a bottle of chives in front of the cream tartar bottles.

Maria,
Thanks for the recipe!
What's so frustrating for me is that suddenly, souffles aren't working, and they did before! I always thought souffles were easy to make, until just now. Argh!

Oh, well, custards still work, and lime meringue pie worked just fine.

John

Probably won't help you now, but if you procure a copper bowl, you'll never need cream of tartar.

Dear Larry,
Until Kitchen-Aid sells a copper bowl for its mixers, I don't think I'll be able to adopt it. Wrist pain is the computer user's black lung disease, so it would be unwise to devote a lot of wrist energy to whipping egg whites...

Walt