Soufflé de Maïs à la Crème

Soufflé de Maïs à la Crème (creamed maize soufflé) teaches one true thing before you touch a pan: a soufflé rises only when its base has enough body to hold air. Here the maize must be cooked, passed fine, and dried in butter before the cream goes near it. Leave water in the purée and the four whites can lift nothing.

The grand kitchen around the original entry assumed a saucier on staff, stock never off the fire, and a salamander at hand, though this spare preparation calls on none of them. It did assume a tammy, a fine drum sieve, and a cook ready to send the moulded soufflé beside poached fowl at its precise moment. A food processor followed by a sturdy fine-mesh sieve is the honest home equivalent, and an ordinary oven supplies both lift and color. The tammy is brigade scaffolding. Fine sieving, quick drying, and the ratio of three yolks to four whites for each pound of purée are the dish, so those stay.

Done well, the Soufflé de Maïs à la Crème arrives butter-gold and high, with a tender center that tastes clearly of maize and fresh cream rather than egg. Dry the purée until the spatula leaves a clean track. That is the step that decides the rise; after it, you need only calm folding and prompt service. One cook, one stove, one evening.