Sweet Corn Vanilla Soufflé with Blackberries

Deep Run Roots

I have had fresh corn desserts before, but never one quite like this! If you think about it, corn is sweet to begin with, so basing a dessert on its flavor shouldn't be as surprising as it is.

I had never made a soufflé at home before, and it's not generally something I order at a restaurant, probably because it's something that should be baked to order so it takes a long time compared to most desserts. I know I've had a chocolate one at least once, but the only thing I remember is that they poured chocolate sauce into the middle before serving.

Putting the soufflé together wasn't too difficult, but figuring out when it was done was...not intuitive. The recipe doesn't give many tips for judging doneness, just timing, so I consulted the internet and ended up checking the internal temperature. After reading a bit more, a little runny in the middle (like ours was) is fine, but if you prefer it cooked more that is fine, too. Just be aware that if you overcook it, it may collapse. I'm sure it would still be delicious!

This recipe is currently available online here: https://charlestonmag.com/recipes/sweet_corn_vanilla_souffl_with_blackberries

Captions

[00:00]: [Music]
[00:05]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:07]: with Heather today we are going to be
[00:09]: making a dessert which is kind of an
[00:12]: unconventional dessert it is a sweet
[00:14]: corn vanilla souffle with blackberries
[00:18]: from Vivian Howard's deep Brown Roots
[00:20]: cookbook it's kind of like a corn
[00:21]: pudding but she wants to make sure that
[00:24]: you know that it's definitely supposed
[00:25]: to be a dessert not sort of a side which
[00:27]: is something we do in the South we will
[00:29]: serve a relatively sweet corn pudding
[00:32]: with the the main side dishes but
[00:36]: this is definitely a dessert so
[00:39]: it's gonna there's several steps it's
[00:41]: going to take a little while
[00:43]: um so and it's
[00:45]: evening so because we want to make this
[00:49]: pretty soon before we eat it so um yeah
[00:52]: I think I have almost everything out I'm
[00:55]: gonna get some eggs but I don't need
[00:56]: those right now so
[00:58]: um the first thing we need to do
[01:01]: is to make sort of a vanilla
[01:07]: cream corn
[01:10]: thing that will eventually be the base I
[01:13]: think of the
[01:15]: souffle so we are starting with half
[01:20]: of our heavy cream
[01:24]: so I've measured it all together and I'm
[01:27]: just gonna
[01:29]: pour approximately half
[01:34]: close as I can get it seems good to me
[01:38]: um and half of our
[01:41]: fresh corn that has been cut off the cob
[01:45]: that's gonna be pretty a little a lot
[01:47]: easier to sort of estimate
[01:50]: that cream
[01:57]: there we go
[01:59]: so
[02:02]: um
[02:03]: the corn the cream we need some sugar so
[02:06]: this is just
[02:08]: granulated white sugar pre-measured
[02:12]: and some salt just a little bit of salt
[02:16]: because you know salt sort of helps
[02:18]: everything taste better
[02:20]: and then the other thing we need to do
[02:22]: is we have a vanilla pod
[02:26]: and what I'm gonna do I'm just gonna do
[02:28]: this on my countertop and on this
[02:30]: because it doesn't
[02:32]: really this is not a great knife I don't
[02:35]: care if I heard it and it probably won't
[02:36]: hurt my countertop so I'm going to run
[02:39]: the tip of the knife down the middle of
[02:42]: this pod
[02:44]: and then
[02:47]: kind of open it up
[02:51]: and scrape
[02:54]: let's see if I can get all of it open
[02:57]: um
[02:57]: scrape the seeds out and so I'm going to
[02:60]: do that also on here because that's
[03:01]: going to make it easier
[03:07]: got a good bit of them but
[03:12]: I don't know I cut it
[03:16]: okay there we go
[03:18]: I'm just gonna kind of get that in there
[03:20]: and we're gonna put the pot into so
[03:23]: there we go
[03:25]: get as many of those little vanilla
[03:30]: seeds in there and so what we're going
[03:33]: to do is we are going to put this on the
[03:36]: stove and we're going to simmer it for
[03:38]: five minutes so we're gonna bring it up
[03:40]: to a simmer and we're going to let it
[03:41]: simmer for five minutes and then we're
[03:44]: going to take it off the stove so we'll
[03:46]: see you in about five minutes
[03:48]: as we let our corn and cream and sugar
[03:51]: and salt all and vanilla
[03:54]: um simmer for five minutes
[03:57]: took a while to come up to a simmer and
[03:60]: then on my stove a little about medium
[04:03]: low kind of kept it in a simmer so we
[04:06]: simmered that for five minutes then we
[04:07]: took it off
[04:08]: and let it steep
[04:10]: for 10 minutes
[04:12]: and now I have removed
[04:15]: the vanilla bean which she says to this
[04:18]: card I do sometimes wash them and then
[04:20]: put them in sugar to make sort of
[04:22]: vanilla sugar
[04:23]: which is good to have on hand
[04:26]: but now we're going to puree this until
[04:28]: it is smooth
[04:30]: so I'm going to pour this into my
[04:32]: blender
[04:40]: get as much out of there as I can but we
[04:42]: are going to be using this pan again
[04:45]: so
[04:47]: put it right there for now
[04:50]: [Applause]
[04:51]: all right so I'm just going to
[04:54]: blend it what'd she say just process so
[04:57]: I'm going to blend it until it is pretty
[04:59]: smooth
[05:06]: pretty smooth it is not 100 necessary
[05:11]: necessary to get this super smooth
[05:13]: because we're going to be adding more
[05:15]: corn into this later so you know a few
[05:17]: pieces aren't going to be a problem but
[05:20]: now we just set this aside so I'm gonna
[05:23]: move this out of the way
[05:25]: so the next thing we have to do we have
[05:27]: to make a flour mixture that we're going
[05:28]: to cook
[05:30]: so uh what I'm going to do right now is
[05:33]: add my flour to this bowl
[05:37]: and some baking powder so that's a
[05:42]: rising agent so that I guess will help
[05:44]: it
[05:46]: um
[05:47]: rise in the oven and I'm just going to
[05:50]: use the Whisk that I'm going to use
[05:51]: later
[05:52]: to mix this up
[05:57]: foreign
[06:02]: and then
[06:05]: um
[06:06]: in the same saucepan we're going to add
[06:10]: the rest of the cream so we used about
[06:12]: half of it for that and we're going to
[06:13]: use half of it for this
[06:16]: and it doesn't matter if you get a
[06:17]: little bit of you know the previous
[06:19]: stuff in here because it's all going
[06:21]: together in the end
[06:24]: so
[06:27]: there we go
[06:28]: now I'm not going to show you this part
[06:30]: but we're going to
[06:33]: heat this over medium heat until bubbles
[06:36]: form around the edges
[06:39]: um and then we're going to whisk in this
[06:42]: flour mixture and cook it until it
[06:44]: thickens up it will be very pasty she
[06:47]: says so
[06:49]: uh we're gonna go do that and we'll show
[06:52]: you what it looks like when that is all
[06:54]: done so I'm going to
[06:56]: make heat this until on medium heat
[06:59]: until the bubbles come around then I'm
[06:60]: going to add this and whisk and whisk
[07:01]: and whisk until we think it's done
[07:04]: okay so it got very pasty very quickly
[07:08]: so as soon as there were bubbles around
[07:10]: the edge I put
[07:12]: I know this is very loud sorry I put the
[07:15]: um flour mixture in there and now I'm
[07:18]: gonna get the Whisk out because the next
[07:20]: part she says just stir so
[07:23]: there we go now we've got some butter
[07:27]: I've got unsalted she doesn't say
[07:29]: specifically but this is supposed to be
[07:32]: room temperature one might be a little
[07:34]: bit cooler but it's been sitting out for
[07:37]: a while
[07:38]: and we're going to stir this in
[07:43]: two tablespoons at a time until
[07:47]: it all gets Incorporated
[07:51]: this is going to hurt my hand
[07:54]: [Music]
[08:08]: this is actually really close to room
[08:10]: temperature
[08:12]: probably because I'm on a granite
[08:14]: countertop and I had colder butter so
[08:18]: I am going to get out my
[08:21]: bowl for my stand mixer because I want
[08:23]: to use that next
[08:25]: but we need to add
[08:29]: um this and some other things into here
[08:34]: first so but I do need my eggs
[08:38]: um so I'm going to
[08:41]: save my yolks in here and put my whites
[08:43]: in here that's the goal
[08:45]: fingers crossed
[09:10]: there we go
[09:12]: it's one
[09:22]: this one happened much nicer
[09:30]: there we go
[09:36]: there we go
[09:37]: yoke broke that's not a big deal
[09:40]: so I'm going to set this aside and get
[09:41]: my hands
[09:43]: now we're going to combine our pureed
[09:46]: corn mixture
[09:48]: which is as smooth as my blender can
[09:51]: make it but that's right
[09:59]: so we're combining this
[10:05]: uh so now I need some lemon zest
[10:13]: we had a bit of an interruption
[10:16]: um so I have the lemon zest in here and
[10:20]: now I'm going to put my egg yolks
[10:23]: in here
[10:25]: and mix that up
[10:32]: go and the rest of this corn
[10:44]: go
[10:47]: good enough we're going to mix this all
[10:50]: up
[10:53]: and this is ready
[10:57]: um I'm gonna clean up a little bit
[10:59]: take some stuff away that I no longer
[11:01]: need and get my mixer before I whisk my
[11:05]: egg whites just so that I am completely
[11:07]: ready for it when the time comes I'm
[11:09]: gonna prepare my pan so
[11:13]: she says to use
[11:16]: oh gosh a six by six casserole dish or
[11:20]: you can use several small ramekins I
[11:23]: think she says six I don't have six
[11:27]: ramekins anymore
[11:29]: um
[11:31]: or you could use a 10 inch cast iron
[11:34]: skillet
[11:36]: I'm going to use this which is about a
[11:39]: six inch
[11:41]: um
[11:42]: casserole dish but it is all is round
[11:45]: and it's taller so I'm not sure that it
[11:48]: will rise above it she says it should
[11:50]: Rise
[11:52]: um just over the lip but
[11:55]: to prepare it I am in
[11:59]: something
[12:01]: because completely not like me I bought
[12:05]: baking spray with flour because she says
[12:08]: to use it for this and I know that
[12:12]: just putting baking spray on here would
[12:14]: not be good for a souffle because it
[12:16]: needs something to sort of attach to be
[12:20]: it doesn't it doesn't want the sides to
[12:21]: be slippery so that's why the flower so
[12:24]: instead of greasing and flowering it
[12:26]: myself I decided to do what she says
[12:30]: and buy this baking spray so I'm going
[12:33]: to I think she says use copious amounts
[12:37]: of this and I'm going to try to turn it
[12:39]: away from
[12:42]: my egg whites so it doesn't get in there
[12:55]: all right that's copious
[12:58]: so that's ready and so now we have just
[13:02]: our egg whites and we're going to beat
[13:04]: them until they reach stiff peaks which
[13:07]: doesn't say what temp what speed so
[13:20]: close
[13:23]: I think I might be at stiff peaks
[13:27]: foreign
[13:31]: it's pretty thick so I transferred my
[13:34]: corn mixture into this bowl because the
[13:36]: next thing I have to do is to
[13:39]: fold the egg whites into the corn
[13:41]: mixture very gently
[13:44]: and I couldn't see doing being able to
[13:47]: do that very easily in that tiny little
[13:50]: pan
[13:51]: so even though she didn't tell me to I
[13:54]: made the call
[13:60]: so I'm dirtying yet another pan
[14:06]: all right so now I'm just going to fold
[14:08]: them
[14:09]: as gently as I can trying not to
[14:15]: uh
[14:17]: get all of the air out of them trying to
[14:21]: lighten the corn mixture
[14:23]: [Music]
[14:30]: I think we've gotten most of the big
[14:36]: um
[14:37]: balls of
[14:40]: egg white in there and now I'm going to
[14:45]: put it in my pan
[14:48]: and I'm going to put this
[14:51]: into my 350 degree oven
[14:55]: she says this will take approximately 35
[14:57]: minutes there are no other indications
[14:60]: of how to know when this is done
[15:03]: so I'm gonna have to kind of guess I
[15:06]: think especially since my my
[15:09]: vessel is slightly different than what
[15:12]: she says
[15:13]: so I'm gonna put this on a baking tray
[15:16]: just in case I underestimated
[15:20]: the amount that this is going to rise
[15:22]: and maybe overflows
[15:25]: I am supposed to sprinkle this with
[15:26]: nutmeg so
[15:29]: I'm just going to
[15:35]: it was a pretty decent amount of nutmeg
[15:37]: I'm not going to measure
[15:39]: but I'm going to sprinkle it until it
[15:42]: looks
[15:43]: like there's not very nutmeg on there
[15:47]: good enough
[15:48]: back into the oven it goes 35 minutes
[15:53]: all right
[15:55]: so this has been baking this has been
[15:58]: baking a little more than 35 minutes and
[16:01]: it was very very wobbly and I wasn't
[16:03]: sure that it was done so we're going to
[16:05]: take its temperature I looked it up on
[16:07]: the internet
[16:08]: somewhere between 150 and 160 should be
[16:10]: fine
[16:15]: it looks like we are
[16:21]: maybe not quite there
[16:25]: it's not it's looking like eggy all
[16:28]: right we're gonna put in for a couple
[16:29]: more minutes
[16:31]: it is deeper and less wide so it should
[16:35]: take a little bit longer
[16:37]: so I believe this should be done now I'm
[16:39]: just gonna stick this in here
[16:44]: we're definitely
[16:47]: yeah we're definitely done
[16:51]: still so I read something that said it
[16:53]: shouldn't come out with egg on it but
[16:58]: this one does
[16:60]: I don't care
[17:02]: I go I'm gonna go by the temperature
[17:03]: we're gonna call this done
[17:08]: so
[17:10]: I already burned myself once today
[17:15]: um
[17:16]: it did not come out of the dish that's
[17:19]: great it did rise I think it looks good
[17:22]: so I think it looks great uh we're gonna
[17:25]: take some pictures this will fall that's
[17:27]: kind of to be expected it won't be as
[17:29]: poofy she says to serve it as quickly as
[17:31]: you can if you can't serve it
[17:34]: immediately it won't be as poofy but it
[17:35]: will be just as tasty
[17:37]: so we're gonna try to serve this
[17:40]: really quickly so we'll show you what it
[17:42]: looks like when we get it all served up
[17:44]: foreign
[17:44]: [Music]
[17:52]: on this episode of cooking the books
[17:54]: with Heather you watched me make sweet
[17:56]: corn vanilla souffle with blackberries
[17:58]: from Vivian Howard's Deep Run Roots
[18:01]: cookbook and I don't I'm pretty sure
[18:03]: I've eaten the souffle before
[18:06]: but not very often and I'm pretty sure
[18:10]: I've never made it before so I was a
[18:12]: little concerned about making sure it
[18:14]: was done so I did end up taking the
[18:16]: temperature mine ended up
[18:18]: a little runny in the middle uh which
[18:22]: I think is okay for souffle it
[18:25]: definitely was up to temperature so
[18:28]: nothing was going to be harmful for us
[18:30]: the eggs were cooked enough
[18:33]: um so that shouldn't be a problem
[18:36]: um but it was pretty runny in the middle
[18:37]: so if you don't like that you might want
[18:39]: to you know cook it longer
[18:42]: um
[18:43]: I think there's a lot of
[18:45]: guessing game with how long to cook it
[18:48]: because
[18:51]: larger dishes how deep it is how wide it
[18:54]: is
[18:55]: um
[18:56]: and and there's also the smaller you can
[18:59]: do them in individual portions and small
[19:01]: ramekins all of that's going to take
[19:03]: different amount of time so
[19:05]: that's just something you're going to
[19:06]: have to figure out when it's done
[19:08]: yourself I will say hours temperature
[19:11]: wise was about
[19:16]: 155 at the lowest although it was higher
[19:19]: than that elsewhere
[19:21]: um
[19:22]: and it was still running in the middle
[19:24]: so
[19:26]: I'm not the best person to tell you how
[19:27]: to do this
[19:29]: but if you would be put off by having a
[19:32]: runny Center you might want to be a
[19:33]: little bit more or cook it a little bit
[19:35]: longer
[19:37]: even
[19:38]: the outside where it was you know fully
[19:41]: cooked was really moist really tender
[19:45]: um
[19:47]: and the whole thing was delicious it was
[19:50]: not too sweet so it was definitely
[19:53]: uh not a super sweet corn
[19:56]: dessert
[19:58]: but it was sweet
[20:00]: um
[20:02]: tasted very much like corn a little hint
[20:04]: of the lemon and the blackberries went
[20:08]: really well with it in fact
[20:10]: um whole family liked it the person the
[20:12]: one that I was afraid wouldn't like it
[20:15]: the most
[20:17]: gave it a thumbs up thought it was best
[20:19]: with the blackberries she doesn't even
[20:21]: like to eat blackberries in general and
[20:23]: you like in general usually she won't
[20:25]: eat them so well she will if I make her
[20:28]: but she will not willingly eat them but
[20:31]: she likes this with the Blackberry so
[20:33]: they were a great accompaniment and it
[20:36]: was great that you didn't have to do
[20:37]: much to him you just had to you know
[20:38]: rinse them off and
[20:40]: slice them up
[20:42]: so
[20:44]: I think this is not a bad
[20:48]: first attempt at a souffle not a bad
[20:51]: thing to try so we might make another
[20:54]: one sometime we'll see
[20:57]: I'm sure my kids would eat this one
[20:59]: again
[21:00]: um maybe next summer we're getting to
[21:02]: the end of corn season here and this is
[21:04]: definitely something I think you would
[21:05]: want fresh corn
[21:08]: in not um
[21:11]: not any like frozen corn
[21:14]: although if you froze it yourself it
[21:16]: might be okay
[21:18]: anyway uh it was a little difficult
[21:20]: there were several steps and lots of
[21:23]: machinery
[21:24]: but not too bad so
[21:28]: if you enjoyed watching me make this
[21:30]: please give me a thumbs up hit the hit
[21:32]: subscribe button and come back and watch
[21:34]: me make something else next week
[21:38]: thank you