Get your spoons ready, February 28 is National Chocolate Soufflé Day! The chocolate soufflé is the height of French decadence — and deliciousness. The dessert is often associated with momentous occasions, so it’s only fitting that it has its own day to be celebrated.
- 1742 – The first recipe for soufflé appeared in Vincent La Chapelle’s Le Cuisinier Moderne (1742).
- 19th Century – French painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec created a dessert he called “mayonnaise de chocolat,” which we now know as chocolate mousse.
- 1813 – The word soufflé first appeared in English in Louis Ude’s The French Cook, 1813.
- 1814 – Antoine Beauvilliers details how to make a soufflé in his book “L’Art du Cuisinier.”
- 1820s – Antonin Carême creates numerous soufflé recipes and is credited with perfecting and popularizing the soufflé
- 1845 – Souffle was so commonly accepted that in Eliza Acton’s Modern Cookery(1845) a recipe for soufflé was included as just another recipe.
- 1903 – As the soufflé evolved, the number of variations grew. By the time Auguste Escoffier published “Le Guide Culinaire” in 1903, which codified the classic recipes of French cuisine, more than 60 soufflé variations were in common use.
- 1954 – Sabrina (played by Audrey Hepburn) is critiqued by the master chef at a Parisian culinary school for her poor attempts at making soufflé.
- 1961 – In “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” their profoundly influential 1961 cookbook, Julia Child, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle describe the soufflé as the “epitome and triumph of the art of French cooking.”
- The word souffle is the past participle of the French verb souffler, which means “to blow up” or more loosely “puff up” which describes a souffle perfectly.
- A souffle is a lightly baked cake made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites that are combined with other ingredients to make the dish either a savory main dish or a sweet dessert.
- Due to soufflés’ tendency to collapse quickly upon removal from the oven, the media frequently depicts the dessert in sitcoms, cartoons, children’s programs and movies as a source of humor.
- Another kind of dish entirely is soufflé potatoes, which are puffed-up sautéed potato slices, traditionally served with a Chateaubriand steak.
- The Guinness Book of World Records shows that the largest soufflé ever made was in Nablus, Palestine. It measured 243 feet long and weighed more than 3800 pounds.
- The most expensive soufflé ever commercially sold was made in New York City from quail eggs and caviar. In 2016, this dish sold for $2500 and was also made using flambé Hennessy Richard, as well as being decorated with gold leaf.
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