There is a scene in a popular show in which a mother and son, both at best amateur cooks, are trying to follow a recipe. The mother reads off the instructions — “fold in the cheese” — and they are both hilariously stumped.
In their recipe for enchiladas, the technique is probably not all that important, but for a lot of applications, this skill is essential.
Any recipes that call for whipped, airy ingredients to be incorporated into something heavier, like an angel food cake or a cheese souffle, require that the whipped egg whites or meringue be mixed without deflating. Simply stirring with a spoon or whisking in the lighter ingredients will burst the air bubbles and rob the final dish of the lift they would have provided, leaving a dense and flat dish instead of an edible cloud.
The way we prevent this is with a gentle “folding” technique.
For Sunday breakfast I made my family some Japanese-style souffle pancakes using this method. These pancakes are sweet, light and delicate, and taste divine paired with tart cranberry sauce. They are also tricky to get right, so don’t be discouraged if they aren’t the sky-high pillows you were hoping for — they will still be delicious.
Japanese-style souffle pancakes
Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
2 tablespoon milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoon sugar
Directions:
Separate the eggs into two large bowls. Keep the egg whites in the refrigerator until ready to whisk.
Add the milk and vanilla extract to the yolks and gently whisk.
Sift the flour and baking soda into the yolk mixture and stir to combine. Mix just until smooth and set aside.
Use a hand mixer or a whisk and a strong arm to whip the egg whites and ½ of the sugar until frothy.
Add the rest of the sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. When the meringue is ready, it won’t fall out of the bowl when you turn it upside down.
Prepare your pan. You will want a high-quality nonstick pan with a lid for this. Drop in a scant teaspoon of cooking oil and use a paper towel to spread it over the surface of the pan while wiping away the excess. Preheat on low heat while you finish the batter.
Take 1/3 of the meringue and whisk into the yolk/flour mixture. This lightens the batter and makes the folding stage easier.
Take another 1/3 of the meringue and drop it into the bowl.
Using a rubber spatula, cut down through the center of bowl toward you, flip the batter over, turn the bowl ¼ turn and repeat. Keep cutting down, flipping, and turning the bowl until most of the meringue has been incorporated. You should still see some streaks of white.
Add in the final batch of meringue, again straight down on top of the batter, and continue cutting down, flipping over, and turning the bowl ¼ turn at a time until the batter is an even color throughout. You will need to scrape the bowl as you go to catch any patches of heavy batter still clinging to the bottom. Be as gentle as possible while you do this.
You can either use a piping bag and pipe the batter down onto the pan, or a disher or ice cream scoop works well, too.
As soon as the batter is in the pan, cover and allow to cook undisturbed for 3 minutes.
Very gently lift the edge of one to check the color. When the pancake is golden brown you can flip. If the flipped pancake is leaning too much, use your fingers to gently press until level.
Cover again and cook for another 3 minutes.
Serve immediately — the pancakes will deflate as they cool, so enjoy quickly.
