Chocolate Souffle

Chocolate souffle has quickly risen as our favorite dessert here. I think there's a stigma attached to it - people think it's about the most difficult recipe to conquer. Truthfully, if you have some patience, it is very easy. Here's how the whole deal works.

Ingredients

• 5-6oz bittersweet chocolate
• 1/3 cup white sugar + a little more
• A bit of butter
  
• 6 eggs
• Heavy whipping cream
• Vanilla (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. So for this recipe, you're going to need a 5-6 cup ramekin, or other vertical walled ceramic or glass baking dish. I included a picture of a ramekin above.
3. Melt about 2 tablespoons of butter in the ramekin. Once the butter is melted, pick up the ramekin and rotate it until it completely covers the inside of the dish.
4. Dump some sugar inside, and rotate again until a light coat of sugar covers all of the butter.
5. Separate out the eggs - put 6 eggs whites in a large mixing bowl, and put 3 egg yolks in a small prep bowl.
6. Whip the egg whites with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks (this will make sense when you see it happen). You can do this step with a hand-held whisk, but it will take about 20 minutes of hard work. That's almost always the way I do it, because I can never find a mixer.
7. Add in 1/3 cup sugar, and beat again until they hold stiff peaks.
8. Use a double boiler setup to slowly melt the chocolate. When the chocolate is about 90% melted, pull it off the heat. When all of the chocolate has melted, mix in the egg yolks.
9. Mix about 1 cup of the egg white mixture in with the chocolate.
10. VERY LIGHTLY fold in chocolate mix to the egg mix, using either a spatula or a whisk. It doesn't have to be completely mixed in, but the mixture should be chocolate brown.
11. Pour all of this into your prepared ramekin.
12. Bake for 22-24 minutes, until the top of the souffle is baked, but there's still a good deal of jiggle left in the rest.
13. While this is baking, I highly suggest making some housemade whipped cream. It's super simple - combine some heavy whipping cream, a bit of vanilla, and a bit of sugar. Beat with your mixer or whisk until you've got whipped cream.
14. Once the souffle is complete, use two large spoons to serve it onto plates, along with a good sized dollop of whipped cream.

That's it! Nice and easy chocolate souffle.

First Idea: Get a crock pot and make some pork

When I think about crock pots (interchangeable with slow-cooker), I imagine my grandmother using it to make a big stew. Cut up potatoes, a roast, maybe some carrots. While those are usually well-liked, I'm not particularly fond of stews. Slash cut to 2009 - the year of the revival of the crock pot. Let's walk through some basics of what I've learned. Trust me about all of this though - crock pots rock.

FIRST - go buy a crock pot. You can buy them for cheap at a store - like this Rival slow cooker for $30. Or you can buy a nice one - like this high quality All Clad slow cooker for $200. Or go to craigslist and buy one used for $10. There are minute differences between models, but as long as it has at least a 5qt capacity, you'll be fine.

SECOND - make some pulled pork. This is a ridiculously good recipe that requires only a little work. Here's how you do it.
1. Go buy a pork shoulder, preferably bone-in. I bought a 6lb shoulder for around $12.
2. Take some fat off. There should be a large amount of fat on one side - cut it off with a knife. This step isn't necessary, but will make your life a bit easier later.
3. Mix equal parts brown sugar, cumin and paprika. A large spoonful of each should be good for the 6lb shoulder. Add some salt and pepper to this mix (this will be your rub).
4. Coat the outer surface of the pork shoulder with the rub. It should be just more than a dusting.
5. Put the pork shoulder in the crock pot, pour a bottle of beer (I used Yuengling Lager) in the pot with it. Set the slow cooker to low, make sure to put the lid on it.
6. Go to sleep, or go run errands all day long. The pork should cook 10-12 hours in order to get really succulent.
7. After the pork is cooked, use a pair of tongs or a couple forks to pull the pork apart. This will be very very easy to do if it's well cooked. Discard the bone and fat. You can pull the pork apart into small pieces, or keep it in larger pieces. Do whatever fits your fancy.
8. The meat is ready to eat at this point in time, but I prefer a sweeter pulled pork with some bbq sauce. Feel free to eat it, or you can trust me and follow the next couple of steps.
9. Empty the juice out of the crock pot, toss the meat back in. Add 1/2 bottle of bbq sauce - I use Sweet Baby Ray's. Mix this sauce in with the meat.
10. Let this cook on low for another couple hours. This will help some of the barbeque flavor cook in with the meat.
11. You're ready to serve! Do the meat justice, and pick up some fresh bread or rolls to serve it on. Have a bottle of the barbeque sauce out for those who prefer a little extra.

You can refrigerate the extra that you weren't able to eat. It's wonderful to take in for lunch. My only thought here is that you don't want to reheat the pork more than once, so pull out only what you need.

It took a good amount more time to write this than I was planning, so I'll call it a day for the blog. Tomorrow: let's make chili.