Chocolate Souffle

A plain flour-thickened chocolate base lightened with three eggs, in the style of the 1920s and 30s home-economics soufflé. The recipe leans on an earlier entry for the method, which was standard practice in these books.

• The missing method"Proceed as in Prune Souffle" refers to an earlier entry that is not reproduced here, so the exact directions cannot be checked. Soufflés of this type are generally turned into a buttered baking dish and baked until set and just firm in the centre, then served at once; no oven temperature or baking time is given anywhere in this recipe.
• "Fat"An unspecific listing of this kind, common in cookbooks of the period, leaves the choice to whatever shortening was on hand. Butter gives the best flavour here; one tablespoon is a small amount against three tablespoons of flour, so the sauce will be very thick and paste-like.
• Grated chocolateThe amount of sugar suggests unsweetened baking chocolate, which in this period came in one-ounce squares, so two ounces would be two squares. Chop or grate it so it melts into the hot sauce without scorching. If you substitute semisweet, cut the sugar to about 1/4 cup.
• Scalding the milkScalding was a habit from the days of unpasteurized milk, to destroy souring organisms and enzymes. With pasteurized milk it is unnecessary, but heating the milk still speeds the sauce; do not let it boil hard against the chocolate.
• Order of workCook the sauce, then let it cool to warm before the yolks go in, or they will scramble in streaks. Beat the whites only to soft, glossy peaks; stiff dry whites break up and the soufflé rises unevenly.
• The water bathIf the companion prune recipe does direct a pan of hot water, that is what makes this a pudding-soufflé rather than a dry cake; nothing in this entry says so. Water roughly halfway up the dish, topped up with boiling water if it evaporates, is the usual practice.
• YieldThe recipe gives none; one cup of milk and three eggs would suit roughly four servings in a dish of about a quart. It sinks within a few minutes of leaving the oven, so bring it to the table immediately, with cream or a thin vanilla sauce.