Cheese soufflé: 45 minutes to lofty perfection
Corinna Borden | Contributor
Miracle, yes. Wondrous, yes. Relentless, yes. Every day we get three or four eggs; with just two people eating, this is a lot of eggs. So we are seeking to expand our egg based dishes - emboldened by our success with Eggs Benedict we decided to hit another French Classic.
To be more specific, a cheese soufflé. And once again, debunking the fear of the process and worry about slamming doors when the soufflé was rising, I realized a very important thing. A soufflé is just a fluffy variant of a baked omelet and is about as complicated.
Perhaps it was 10 minutes from start to finish before the soufflé went into the oven.
Preheat oven to 375 and collect ingredients: 6 eggs, hard cheese ends from cheese drawer, anchovy paste (if desired), 1 cup milk, salt and butter.
T-minus 10 minutes - Grate about 1 ½ cups of cheese (we used Manchego, Comte, Sheep Gouda and a bit of cheddar).
T-minus 9 minutes - Butter inside of soufflé dish, coat inside with cheese and turn on fire under butter in pan.
Corinna Borden | Contributor
T-minus 7 minutes - Slowly add the milk to the flour and butter mixture to create béchamel sauce (one of the classic “mother sauces” of French cooking).
I had always been a bit intimidated by the making of such a schmancy sounding sauce. As the cold milk hit the perfectly combined flour and butter to create lumps at supersonic speed, my heart did a small back flip. However, I persevered and, by rapidly continuing to stir the mixture, the lumps disappeared. And they disappeared quickly. (Some recipes recommend scalding the milk prior, and I can see why.)
T-minus 6 minutes - Pour the béchamel sauce into a bowl and add salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon anchovy paste. (We like anchovies). Let sit to cool slightly.
T-minus 5 minutes - Separate eggs.
T-minus 4 minutes - Make sure that the racks in the oven are low enough so that the soufflé will have room to grow. Scratch the dog.
T-minus 3 minutes - Whisk in the egg yolks into the béchamel sauce until incorporated.
T-minus 2 minutes - Whip the egg whites until soft peaks are formed.
Corinna Borden | Contributor
Pour into the soufflé dish, gently carry to the oven and place slowly on the rack!
Now I had 35 minutes while that cooked (filling the house with the most alluring cheese aroma) to wash the dishes, make a salad and sit down with a glass of wine.
The results (for our first soufflé) were sublime. Light, airy, full of flavor - superb!
Corinna runs the Westside Farmers Market and blogs about all things food related (though her book is about something completely different).
Comments
Laura Ramirez
Sun, Mar 14, 2010 : 10:28 a.m.
First time making a souffle and I need some clarification. How much butter is used in step T-8 in making the roux and what is the split on cheese in steps T-9 and T-1? I was glad I read entire recipe as I was planning on using all the cheese in step T-9. Reading the full recipe, basic cooking 101! thanks for clarifying.
Heidi Hess Saxton
Tue, Mar 9, 2010 : 8:49 p.m.
Sounds yummy... might add a bit of cumin or curry powder to add a little extra zip. Also another step: T minus 3.5 "Wash hands after scratching dog."