I’ve cooked quite a few – and eaten quite a few – soufflés in my time, but this is my first sweet one. It comes from the great Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, or to give its full title, The Book of Household Management Comprising information for the Mistress, Housekeeper, Cook, Kitchen-Maid, Butler, Footman, Coachman, Valet, Upper and Under House-Maids, Lady’s-Maid, Maid-of-all-Work, Laundry-Maid, Nurse and Nurse-Maid, Monthly Wet and Sick Nurses, etc. etc.—also Sanitary, Medical, & Legal Memoranda: with a History of the Origin, Properties, and Uses of all Things Connected with Home Life and Comfort. Those Victorians do go on, don’t they? The book is actually a collection of articles that she published in The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine between 1859 and 1861, and although she conjures up imaginations of austerity and matronliness, she actually died at the rather young age of 46 of tuberculosis, or consumption as the Victorians called it, and her great masterwork was published when she was just thirty years of age.
#293 Mrs Beeton’s Chocolate Soufflé. This was a very good soufflé. It wasn’t very sweet, which really showed off the bitter chocolate taste. In fact is tasted just like a whipped up mug of cocoa. The chilled cream – which Americans don’t seem to use on their desserts – in combination with the hot soufflé, really set it off. The only problem was that 20 minutes was a little too long; the centre of the soufflé wasn’t soft, as I like it to be, so it’ll be 15 minutes in the future. That’s my only gripe though. 7.5/10.
Neil Cooks Grigson 
Belatedly: as you may already know by now, it was her widower Mr. Beeton who died of consumption at 46; Isabella herself died at 28 after giving birth to her fourth child. She must have been an astounding woman.
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It is simply amazing just how much she managed to achieve in such a short amount of time. Did she ever sleep!?
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Mrs Beeton was actually more of a figurehead. The book was compiled and edited by her husband on the basis of a previous publication, and her name used to give it a friendly face. Sort of like a more real Betty Crocker. I can't remember which culinary history book I read that in, but it was very good.Only found the blog this week, and already caught up to #293. It's very addictive. I bought the book too – I hadn't previously heard of it – although so far only made the lemon curd (from your recipe, as I couldn't find it in Grigson). Keep up the good work!
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Hi RickI did not realise that Rick, but it makes perfect sense.Glad you've found the blog – and well done for reading from the start…my writing's not great in the those early posts so thanks for persevering!
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