Panera "souffle": bemused rant

First, I have nothing against Panera Bread per se. (Nor do I have anything against Per Se, but that's another board and another post.)

Panera occupies its mid-tier baked-goodies-and-lunch niche with honor and competence. The shelves are stocked, the room is clean, the prices are reasonable, the help is helpful.

But the Panera "souffle" is the latest manifestation (in my experience) of an increasingly common and bewildering (to me) phenomenon: foods named specifically after other foods which they are not, and to which they bear no discernible resemblence.

I'm not talking about dumbed down, deracinated, or absurdly ill-executed versions of things, (e.g. the Lender's bagel, Olive Garden's alfredo, or Lean Cuisine's frozen microwave low-fat ris de veau a la financiere, etc.). I'm talking about things brought to market bearing the names of entirely other things, for no apparent reason.

In the mood for something savory instead of sweet with the morning's coffee, I recently selected a spinach and bacon "souffle," instead of the usual muffin without giving it much thought, until I bit into it while looking at my receipt, and suddenly the word "souffle" began swim in front of my eyes.

This object, not entirely objectionable in and of itself, simply had nothing---not even the ghost of an intention way back in the corporate kitchen's earliest blue sky phase of product development---in common with anyone, anywhere's understanding of a souffle.

What it was, was one of their croissants formed into a complete circle, in the center of which was a glob of melted "cheese" (or, to give them the benefit of the doubt, cheese) and some of the titular bacon and spinach, all baked in a sort of foil muffin cup. The result was familiarly dense, salty, greasy hangover food. A sort of Egg McMuffiny thing with a whiff of aspiration toward higher things.

Fine. I've nothing against it.

But why would anyone call that a "souffle?" There were no eggs, beaten or otherwise. No puffing. Not even previous-but-now-fallen-puffing. There was dough. A foundation of heavy dough. What is to be gained by calling this a souffle? It's not like America is mad for souffles.

Why not call it "our savoury stuffed croissant," or "hearty continental breakfast sandwich," or "hangover helper?"

Because if you're going to call that a "souffle," you might as well call it Chicken Tikka, or chateaubriand, or Boeing Dreamliner, or healthcare reform.

At some point, words have to mean something, denote something, correspond to something in a predictable way, or the whole bottom just drops out. And you're left with Wittgenstein, and Kid Rock, and Dan Brown novels.

It wasn't so bad. It just left me wondering, why. Why?

For comparison, I offer the Dufflet.com definition of souffle: A soufflé is a feather light baked dessert made mostly of eggs or egg whites alone. Dessert soufflés have a base of pastry cream or fruit puree, with softly whipped egg whites folded in, then baked in ramekin molds until the egg whites expand. They should be eaten immediately as they deflate as they cool...

Technically there are eggs in it. Here is the ingredient list:

Souffle mix (skim milk, eggs, spinach, cheddar cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes, annatto color], cheddar club cheese [cheddar cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes}, water, salt, annatto color], bacon [cured with water, salt, sugar, smoke flavoring, sodium phosphates, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite], soybean oil, neufchatel cheese [cultured milk, cream, salt, carob bean gum, guar gum, xanthan gum], onions, water, green onions, modified corn starch, garlic, salt, bleached wheat flour, baking powder [sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate], parmesan cheese paste [granular and parmesan cheese {cultured milk, salt, enzymes}, salt, lactic acid, citric acid], lemon juice concentrate, tabasco sauce [vinegar, red peppers, salt], mono and diglycerdies, spices, xanthan gum), croissant dough (enriched wheat flour [flour, malted barley flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], butter [pasteurized cream, natural flavor], whole milk, sugar, yeast, whole eggs, vital wheat gluten, salt, ascorbic acid, cellulose gum, corn starch), asiago cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt and enzymes), apple wood smoked bacon (cured with water, salt, sugar, sodium phosphate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite).

But I understand your larger point.

Similarly, The Fresh Market offers seasonal corn or carrot "souffle." Though tasty enough(the aforementioned version is redolent of fresh off the cob corn), the product straddles a grey area between cornbread and corn pudding; there is nothing remotely souffle-like about it. Beyond mere misapprehension of culinary terminology, calling this corn or carrot confection "souffle" serves to muddy the once-firmly delineated boundaries of a common-enough dish. Sigh.

Definitely there are eggs in it.

It's kind of quichy and the one or two I've had were not at all dense. Maybe yours had been sitting around for a while or not made properly. Perhaps Chef Panera wasn't in that morning?

This is bad, but not as bad as Starbucks' bastardization of the macchiato, turning it into something that's pretty much exactly opposite of what it's supposed to be.

Technically there are eggs in it. Here is the ingredient list:

Quote:
Souffle mix (skim milk, eggs, spinach, cheddar cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes, annatto color], cheddar club cheese [cheddar cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes}, water, salt, annatto color], bacon [cured with water, salt, sugar, smoke flavoring, sodium phosphates, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite], soybean oil, neufchatel cheese [cultured milk, cream, salt, carob bean gum, guar gum, xanthan gum], onions, water, green onions, modified corn starch, garlic, salt, bleached wheat flour, baking powder [sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate], parmesan cheese paste [granular and parmesan cheese {cultured milk, salt, enzymes}, salt, lactic acid, citric acid], lemon juice concentrate, tabasco sauce [vinegar, red peppers, salt], mono and diglycerdies, spices, xanthan gum), croissant dough (enriched wheat flour [flour, malted barley flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], butter [pasteurized cream, natural flavor], whole milk, sugar, yeast, whole eggs, vital wheat gluten, salt, ascorbic acid, cellulose gum, corn starch), asiago cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt and enzymes), apple wood smoked bacon (cured with water, salt, sugar, sodium phosphate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite).

Gotta say, not all that scary. They just break out the components of every ingredient that's in there.

Who said it was scary?

Can't be a souffle... must be a corporate soofull!

Remember the corporate creed... sometimes good enough is and you can fool some of the people some of the time... and most of the time that's enough!

It also fits the category of food items that turn out to be significantly worse for you than you might think. 580 calories, 39 grams of fat, 21 grams of saturated fat for something that you could polish off in four bites. Not to say that I haven't put away 39 grams of fat in any number of recent meals, but file the Panera egg souffles under "definitely not worth it."

Kennyz wrote:This is bad, but not as bad as Starbucks' bastardization of the macchiato, turning it into something that's pretty much exactly opposite of what it's supposed to be.

One of my funnier experiences in the past year or so was being in line at Intelligentsia when a woman ordered a "Caramel Macchiato." To my surprise, instead of condescending hipster scoffing from the counterman, he talked her through what a macchiato is in a respectful way and suggested she might like a latte with some flavored syrup.

Matt wrote:

Kennyz wrote:This is bad, but not as bad as Starbucks' bastardization of the macchiato, turning it into something that's pretty much exactly opposite of what it's supposed to be.

One of my funnier experiences in the past year or so was being in line at Intelligentsia when a woman ordered a "Caramel Macchiato." To my surprise, instead of condescending hipster scoffing from the counterman, he talked her through what a macchiato is in a respectful way and suggested she might like a latte with some flavored syrup.

I spent a couple of years working as a barista at a local coffee shop in Charlottesville, VA and regularly had to do this.

I would give a similar explanation when people would order a "French vanilla cappuccino". While it making real cappuccinos for someone expecting the output of a machine at 7-11 sounds amusing, people often wouldn't respond well to the real thing.

-Dan

Larry David at Starbucks:

“I'll have a vanilla... one of those vanilla bullshit things. You know, whatever you want, some vanilla bullshit latte cappa thing. Whatever you got.”

spinynorman99 wrote:

Technically there are eggs in it. Here is the ingredient list:

Quote:
Souffle mix (skim milk, eggs, spinach, cheddar cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes, annatto color], cheddar club cheese [cheddar cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes}, water, salt, annatto color], bacon [cured with water, salt, sugar, smoke flavoring, sodium phosphates, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite], soybean oil, neufchatel cheese [cultured milk, cream, salt, carob bean gum, guar gum, xanthan gum], onions, water, green onions, modified corn starch, garlic, salt, bleached wheat flour, baking powder [sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate], parmesan cheese paste [granular and parmesan cheese {cultured milk, salt, enzymes}, salt, lactic acid, citric acid], lemon juice concentrate, tabasco sauce [vinegar, red peppers, salt], mono and diglycerdies, spices, xanthan gum), croissant dough (enriched wheat flour [flour, malted barley flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], butter [pasteurized cream, natural flavor], whole milk, sugar, yeast, whole eggs, vital wheat gluten, salt, ascorbic acid, cellulose gum, corn starch), asiago cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt and enzymes), apple wood smoked bacon (cured with water, salt, sugar, sodium phosphate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite).

Gotta say, not all that scary. They just break out the components of every ingredient that's in there.

I'll tell you what's scary. "Bacon" and "Apple Wood Smoked Bacon" are two separate ingredients. And the one cured with liquid smoke is used in the higher proportion.

mrbarolo,

This sounds strangely similar to the "breakfast souffle" served by my mother on Christmas mornings in my youunger days. I believe both the name and recipe came from some 1970's grocery store checkout line recipe booklet. Basically, it was a layer of toast topped with sausage, bacon, and cheese then covered in beaten eggs and baked.

Flip

Flip wrote:mrbarolo,

This sounds strangely similar to the "breakfast souffle" served by my mother on Christmas mornings in my youunger days. I believe both the name and recipe came from some 1970's grocery store checkout line recipe booklet. Basically, it was a layer of toast topped with sausage, bacon, and cheese then covered in beaten eggs and baked.

Isn't that technically a strata?

=R=

Yes, these baked egg dishes are technically a strata, but many recipes call them souffle. I think in a few of them you do beat the eggs until they double in volume, so it's got a bunch of air in there.

I've made them for brunches, and they are usually well received.

(I love that Larry David line up thread. Completely encapsulates my feelings about the entire debased coffee culture.)

As as far as the various breakfast dish permutations: I have no problem with them as food. I like all sorts of baked eggy things, including the occasional sausage/egg McMuffin. It wasn't a quality issue. I was simply struck in the original circumstance by the distance, nay the complete discontinuity, between the actual meaning of "souffle" and the thing Panera chooses to call a "souffle." Having eggs isn't sufficient. I don't call an omelet a souffle. Up to a point, meanings can always be stretched or bent, but at some point, as Tevye understood, when they're bent that far, they break.

If I ever do a Mike G Rules vol. 2 I think one of them will be "never eat anything that calls itself a strata." It seems, in a restaurant context, to have become "egg thing full of vegetables with the life baked out of it that's been sitting there in the overpriced buffet line for a half hour." Give me the honest omelet, fried before my very eyes.

Being obtuse helps. I never noticed it was called a soufflé. I just assumed it was sort of a quiche. At any rate, I'll take a spinach and artichoke "soufflé" over an egg McMuffin any day.

Darren72 wrote:Technically there are eggs in it. Here is the ingredient list:

Souffle mix (skim milk, eggs, spinach, cheddar cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes, annatto color], cheddar club cheese [cheddar cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes}, water, salt, annatto color], bacon [cured with water, salt, sugar, smoke flavoring, sodium phosphates, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite], soybean oil, neufchatel cheese [cultured milk, cream, salt, carob bean gum, guar gum, xanthan gum], onions, water, green onions, modified corn starch, garlic, salt, bleached wheat flour, baking powder [sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate], parmesan cheese paste [granular and parmesan cheese {cultured milk, salt, enzymes}, salt, lactic acid, citric acid], lemon juice concentrate, tabasco sauce [vinegar, red peppers, salt], mono and diglycerdies, spices, xanthan gum), croissant dough (enriched wheat flour [flour, malted barley flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], butter [pasteurized cream, natural flavor], whole milk, sugar, yeast, whole eggs, vital wheat gluten, salt, ascorbic acid, cellulose gum, corn starch), asiago cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt and enzymes), apple wood smoked bacon (cured with water, salt, sugar, sodium phosphate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite).

But I understand your larger point.

One of the issues I have with the class of restaurants Panera is in is that almost all their foods are frozen pre-prepared; it's no wonder that TGIFridays and places like it have come up with a grocery-store line: after all, all they need to do is repackage it. While I get that they aren't exactly offering their employees any incentive to maintain food quality, I can dump stuff out of a bag at home much less expensively. Thanks, I'll take a local diner that uses shell eggs but doesn't offer as many options.

Razbry, I hate to say it, but I think the McMuffin is better for your health. Here's the ingredients list:

Ingredients (Allergen statement in ALL CAPS.)Back To Top

English Muffin
Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, yeast, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, wheat gluten, soybean oil and/or canola oil, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, citric acid, calcium citrate, yellow corn flour, corn meal, rice flour, barley malt, artificial flavors, natural flavors (botanical source), dough conditioners (ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, datem, tricalcium phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, enzymes, calcium peroxide), calcium propionate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), soy lecithin. Prepared with Liquid Margarine.

CONTAINS: WHEAT AND SOY LECITHIN


Egg
USDA Grade A eggs, soy lecithin (release agent).

Prepared with Liquid Margarine: Liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soy lecithin, mono-and diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color).

CONTAINS: EGG AND SOY LECITHIN


Pasteurized Process American Cheese
Milk, water, milkfat, cheese culture, sodium citrate, salt, citric acid, sorbic acid (preservative), sodium phosphate, artificial color, lactic acid, acetic acid, enzymes, soy lecithin (added for slice separation).

CONTAINS: MILK AND SOY LECITHIN

Canadian Style Bacon
Pork, water, sugar, salt, sodium lactate, sodium phosphate, natural flavor (vegetable), sodium diacetate and sodium nitrite (preservatives).

Despite the vegetables being relatively high on the souffle ingredients list, they are a small part of the total calories - so, to get that serving of veg instead of eating the McMuffin, you're adding 270 calories and a bunch of sodium. Note this interesting study; people tend to consume more calories (or underestimate the calories they are consuming) if they percieve part of the meal to be "healthy."

Mhays...thanks for the info. The nutritional difference between the Egg McMuffin and the Panera "souffle" was an interesting read. Deep down, my body knew the Panera "thing" was probably not the healthiest choice. I too would prefer a (shell) egg creation, but I am talking about a fast pick up breakfast when I feel the need for decadence. It happens sometimes!

Now when it comes to Taco Bell...I'm pretty sure that they just cut bags open and microwave stuff...I never touch the stuff!

I googled it. I couldn't help myself. You, too, can make this delight at home! http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Recipes/story?id=4310959&page=1

Or, you could be a real downer and make "this" souffle http://www.food.com/recipe/classic-cheese-souffle-julia-child-296752

In all seriousness, I've eaten these occasionally and they are just fine for what they are, but I do have to agree, calling them soufflé is a wild stretch.

Ursiform thank you! You saved me the trouble of looking it up myself! I'm making the Panera version this weekend!

Mhays wrote:...[P]eople tend to consume more calories (or underestimate the calories they are consuming) if they perceive part of the meal to be "healthy."

So what's my excuse? I consume more calories if I perceive the meal to be yummy, regardless of healthiness.


P.S. Mark: great post! Thanks for sharing your (as always, lucidly expressed and downright hilarious) thoughts.