Monday, January 6, 2025

Making Chocolate Soufflés at Comice restaurant in Paris

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Making Chocolate Soufflés at Comice restaurant in Paris

With Chef Noam Gedalof

David Lebovitz

Jan 7

READ IN APP

Dinner at Comice restaurant is one of the best dining experiences you can have in Paris. The wife-husband team of chef Noam Gedalof and sommelier Etheliya Hananova have earned a Michelin star, and they’ve created a meticulously pitch-perfect restaurant. Noam is one of the most exacting chefs I’ve ever met, and Etheliya has a remarkable palate and collection of wines, sourced from small producers across France, each with its own fascinating story, which she’s happy to share with diners.

Noam invited me into his kitchen to learn how to make Comice’s signature dessert: the Chocolate Soufflé. With his singular attention to every detail (after we filmed, chef Noam corrected me and said he used eight different kinds of chocolate, as well as six different kinds of vanilla in their ice cream), he whipped up a tray of towering soufflés in his kitchen, and gave me the recipe to share with you.

The recipe has been adapted for home cooks, and home ovens, so not to worry…you don’t need to have eight different kinds of chocolate in your kitchen. You can make it at home, with the recipe below. Enjoy!

Comice website

Chocolate Soufflés

Makes 4 (or 6)

Recipe from Chef Noam Gedalof of Comice restaurant

In the video, Chef Noam details his techniques and astuces (tips) for preparing the molds and making, and baking, the soufflés.

At Comice, the soufflés are baked in copper molds with a 1-cup (240ml) capacity. At home, I baked them in four glass (1 cup/240ml) ramekins and also in six smaller-sized porcelain (1/2 cup/120ml) ramekins, and they worked well in each, although they’ll bake faster in the smaller ramekins. I noted the baking time(s) in my home convection oven, as well as his, in the instructions. Like most soufflé recipes, it’s best to go by look and feel, rather than strict baking times.

(Note: One large egg white weighs about 30 grams, or measures 2 tablespoons, so you’ll need about 7 eggs to get the right amount of egg whites. More on egg sizes here.)

90 grams (3 ounces, a scant 1/2 cup) heavy cream

30 grams (1 ounce/2 tablespoons) butter, unsalted or salted, cubed

8 grams (1 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract

180 grams (6 ounces) bittersweet chocolate (between 65% and 70% cacao solids), chopped

210 grams (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) egg whites, at room temperature

35 grams (3 tablespoons) light brown sugar

Room temperature butter, for buttering the molds

Butter the molds you’re using (see recipe headnote) with the room temperature butter and refrigerate them for 15 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator, butter the molds a second time, and return them to the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC).
In a medium saucepan, warm the cream, butter, and vanilla over medium heat, stirring gently with a whisk until the butter is melted and the cream is lightly simmering. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, stirring it gently to submerge it. Let it sit for about a minute, then stir with the whisk, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip, or by hand in a large bowl with a whisk, whip the whites until they start to hold their shape. Whip in the sugar until the egg whites hold soft peaks.
Add a small amount of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture, about the size of a golf ball, then stir with the whisk until emulsified.
Scrape the chocolate mixture into the beaten egg whites and fold until they’re completely incorporated and no streaks of white are visible.
Divide the mixture into the buttered ramekins, being careful to keep the rims of the ramekins or soufflé dishes clean.
Set the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake until the soufflés are fully risen, but still jiggly when you nudge them. They should feel barely set when you gently touch the center.
At the restaurant, the soufflés are baked for 6 to 8 minutes. At home, mine took 8 to 10 minutes in the smaller ramekins, 11 to 12 minutes in the larger ones. But best to rely on visual and tactile clues rather than exact baking times.
Serve the soufflés warm from the oven. You can dust them with powdered sugar. They can be served on their own or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a pitcher of cold crème anglaise alongside.