Down Side: It Must Fall Charles’s law also
means that what must go up in the oven must
come down at the table. A balloon expands as
its temperature rises, but shrinks again if its
temperature falls. Of course a soufflé must be
taken out of the oven to be served, and from
that moment on it loses heat. As the soufflé
bubbles cool, the air they contain contracts in
volume, and the vapor that came from liquid
water in the mix condenses back into liquid.
Rules of Thumb Several basic facts follow
from the nature of the driving forces behind
the soufflé. First, the higher the cooking
temperature, the higher a soufflé will rise: the
plain heat expansion will be greater, and more
mix moisture will be vaporized. At the same
time, a higher cooking temperature also
means a greater subsequent overpressure and
swifter fall. Then there’s the effect of
consistency. A thick soufflé mix can’t rise as
easily as a thin mix, but it also won’t fall as