TPC Season 3: Making an Egg-ception

If the previous section of The Professional Chef covered all the foods I always eat, this section contained exactly the opposite. Part Three of TPC focuses on Breakfast & Garde Manger (which deals with cold food preparation including salads, sandwiches, appetizers, charcuterie, etc). 

Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls with Crispy Tofu

Being mostly vegan, I don’t do a whole lot with eggs anymore (and eggs are pretty much the only food that TPC considers to be in the “breakfast” category). Despite being mostly vegan, I also don’t eat a whole lot of salad either, since I typically consider it one of the more boring and less filling/satisfying genres of food.

That’s not to say that I don’t eat anything featured in this section, but… I actually don’t usually eat anything featured in this section. In order to try any of the techniques and recipes therein, I had to once again, avoid the ever-watchful gaze of the Vegan Police while grocery shopping. Forgive me, faba (bean), for I have sinned. 

Inspired by the homechef I hope to one day become, Julia Child, I first tried my hand at the classic French omelet. Supposedly very simple and wonderfully satisfying, I thought this would be a good place to start (I was wrong). I know I always say things like, “a poor carpenter blames his tools,” but I really do think I had non-ideal egg-quipment for this one. Cast iron just isn’t the pan of choice when omelets are on the menu, and it shows. 

The ugliest omelet you ever did see; truly a disgrace to French omelets everywhere.

Not to be discouraged, I went on to the more forgiving land of baked-egg dishes and whipped up a classic broccoli and cheddar quiche, as well as some mini frittatas (frittitos?) to accompany a High Tea-esque (eggsque?) charcuterie spread with my long-time gal pal, Ashleigh. 

Heartened by my recent successes, I decided to take my chances with the fabled souffle. I had heard dark and ominous tales of those who once tread optimistically into those soft-peaked egg whites, never to be seen again. 

But YOLO, am I right? 

Look at them veins! Getting pumped from hand-whipping.

I attempted the souffle thrice, and it actually turned out pretty well! I was nervous at first because of all the lore around this dish–like if you make loud noises or stomp in the kitchen or breathe in their general direction while they bake, you’ll end up with a sunken soufflop and have to give your apron back to the chef gods, not to mention the shame of having to throw your souffailures away and ultimately starving to death. 

What I realized, however, was that the procedure is precise and the timing is important; and if you get those right, you’ll have a fluffy dinner. If you get them wrong, you’ll have a very time- and labor-intensive omelet, which really isn’t a bad consolation. 

My first souffle was spinach and emmentaler (a kind of Swiss cheese, you uncultured swine), which rose beautifully, but I think I baked just a little too long. 

Second was gruyere, which rose too beautifully (I overfilled the ramekins), but was cooked to custardy perfection. Egg-squisite flavor and mouthfeel, this one was definitely my favorite of the three. 

Last but not least was butternut squash and parmesan, which didn’t rise as much (perhaps being squashed by the weight of the butternut), but was tasty nonetheless. Served with a roasted root vegetable and kale salad, it felt like Autumn had exploded into the kitchen. 

I still can’t seem to get my life together enough for a culminating exam/dinner party, but I feel pretty egg-complished for this season’s feats in the kitchen. It’s been such a fun and interesting eggs-perience to tackle these once-intimidating recipes, and I feel that I’ve risen to the challenge. I learned a lot of skills that I’m a little sad not to be able to utilize in my regular diet–like how to hand-whip egg whites and efficiently separate yolks–but hopefully I’ll find ways to transfer these techniques to my vegan dishes. If not, I’ll always have something special to whip out when I want to impress somebody, or when I can finally have you over for dinner. 

For the next (and final!?!?) season, more eggs and butter await us as we prepare for Baking & Pastry!