Mar

20

I have come to the conclusion that trades are soufflés and trading is cooking soufflés.

A soufflé is a quick and simple dish to make, yet it can flop easily. With hungry guests waiting at the dinner table, there is little margin for error, since soufflés have to be served hot from the oven. A messed soufflé cannot be served. Failure is public. Because of this, cooking soufflés is stressful, but it is also a source of pride, a statement of confidence in one's cooking skills.

All soufflés contain thoroughly whisked egg whites, with a variety of ingredients. Flour, butter and milk often figure in the recipe. But one can also use anything from chocolate to cheese, mashed potatoes or cauliflower. The mixture is put into the oven, at a specific temperature for a specific time. Since there are no two identical ovens, the cook must know his oven, just as the trader must know his market's idiosyncrasies.

Then it is alea jacta est followed by intense watching. If one doesn't wait long enough, the soufflé will not rise. If one waits too long, the soufflé will rise then collapse. Timing is key. Trades are the same. A trade must last long enough but not too long.

Like finance, cooking is replete with superstitions. The scientific method has been applied to cooking only recently and rarely. For centuries, people thought that soufflés rose from air bubble dilatation in the egg whites, but molecular gastronomy has shown that this is not the case. Soufflés rise because of vaporization of the water contained in the preparation.


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