
If you were to ask me which dish is the most difficult to shoot , I would tell you it is Soufflé! Wikipedia: A Soufflé is a light, fluffy, baked dish made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savoury main dish or sweetened as a dessert. The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler which means “to blow up” or more loosely “puff up” — an apt description of what happens to this combination of custard and egg whites.
I like how soufflé looks – very cute, fluffy, and pretty! The most important thing to make a good soufflé is to beat egg whites to a soft peak meringue. It’s not that difficult to achieve this nowadays if you have electric whisk or your Kitchen Aids stand mixer. As soon as you master the base, you can basically create as many flavours as you want, savoury to sweet – not a problem!! When you attempt to make a soufflé, there’s only one objective: it’s like you want to make a pretty hat for your ramekin! 🙂
Now, why is it so difficult to shoot soufflé particularly? Well, they get puffed up in the oven after about 15-20 minutes, so gorgeous! Once you get then out of the oven, you have probably 5-7 minutes to shoot your beautiful soufflé before it falls or ‘deflated’!!
My experience is:
1. Get your background/setting ready before cooking. Try to have a simple setting, as the ‘star’ is the soufflé.
2. Think of colour and size of the ramekin that you want to use to match your setting.
3. If you are using tripod, set it up and try a few shots with empty ramekin(s) to get your lighting right. Also, try on different angles and settle for the one that you like most.
4. Have the props that you want to use near to your setting. If you want to add a spoon/fork/saucer/napkin/glass….etc, make sure they can be reached easily as time is precious!
5. Shooting tethered and using a remote – this helps you to concentrate and will also help you to determine if you have achieved what you wanted in a bigger screen. Thus, allowing you to take more shots if needed (while the soufflé is still puffy!!).
6. Try to stay calm all the time and don’t think of the time constraint you have.
So, you want to try this gorgeous and yummy soufflé, below is the recipe that I used.
it looks so tasty, i love soufflé.
You make it look so easy, and your photo is perfect….. I have made many double baked souffles, because of the fact that the souffles deflate so quickly!!
This looks really lovely and thank you so much for your shooting tips! I have never made souffle but I think I might give this one a try.
I think this pretty & irresistable soufflé will not be able to escape my son’s itchy fingers in less than 1 min. 😉
Wonderful shots. The last time I made a souffle was a total disaster. I would love to try it again!
The pictures look so pretty!
dapan,
Thank you!! I love soufflé too!! And it’s fun to make!
nina,
Thank you! It was my second time making soufflé. I agree with you that it deflates quickly!! That’s the hardest thing – to keep it looking nice!
foodjunkie,
No worries! Thanks for your comment! You should give it a try!
lk,
ahhaha.. I think he will always be the lucky one to have the most beautiful soufflé to eat before it deflates.
pigpigscorner,
The first time I made it, wasn’t as good as this I think. More practice will make perfect!
Pepy,
Thank you! 🙂
Love the photo. It brings the spirit of spring. Can’t wait.
By the way, finally I’ve written the recipe of the blueberry pudding. Sorry for the delay.
Picture perfect in less than 7 mins! I can imagine myself fumbling :O
P.S For the chicken dish, you can just cook/braise in a pot over stove. NO need a slow cooker for it.
Hehe, I know what you mean. It happened to me when I baked Portuguese egg tarts, the filling sunk wonder why. The ones served at restaurant never sink…hmmm?!
Looks very tastey — a compliment to the photographer as well as the cook. 😉
Long time since I’ve cooked a Souffle (chocolate ones were my big thing when I was a teen). Maybe it’s time to try again — but think I’ll think about the eating first rather than the shooting. Maybe that’s why my cooking is better than my photography!
It looks so beautiful and elegant. I love anything with cheese!
Souffle is def on my list of things to do soon . . . seeing your pretty pictures is a good indication that this recipe will work. Yay! I can’t wait to try!
Sefa,
Thank you! I will check out the recipe!! Yeah – can’t wait for spring!! These few days have been pretty ‘warm’ – above average temperature for this time of the year in this country. 🙂
tigerfish,
ok! 🙂
Rasa Malaysia,
I believe at the restuarants, pots of bases are ready, so they just beat the egg whites and combine the mixture, then put into the oven. And they serve it as soon as they are done.
Raymond,
Thank you!
Baking souffle is fun.
There are times that I eat first and forget about taking photo.. 🙂
noobcook,
Thank you! I love cheese too… yumm… 🙂
Oh, soufflé ! So good.
Beautiful capture !
Vanille,
Thank you!
I saw Mark Bittman make this dessert and intend to make one day! Now you make it and beautifully capture the image!! Syabas!
beachloverkitchen,
You should try this.. soufflé is not difficult to make but the time to enjoy the beauty of it is pretty short.. 🙁
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