Soufflés Galore

Cook 1: My Soufflated Ambitions

I've always wondered why cheese souffle wasn't more popular. It seems like a dish that has a rustic coziness despite its French ethnicity, that would appeal to home cooks and hipster chefs alike. So this weekend when I set out to make this casserole of puffed egg and cheese, I counted on re-discovering a hidden gem. I would trumpet the re-capture of this lost treasure from the rooftops and the dish would be launched into a glorious renaissance.
But first I watched Julia Child's video on making cheese souffle, found here. It seemed really easy. I used her recipe and all her suggestions.

Because I was serving cheese gougeres (hot cheese puffs) before dinner, I needed the oven and left the vulnerable unbaked souffle, covered by a large pot(as approved by Julia Child), out on my kitchen counter while I tended to the gougeres. Reader, remember this.

(By the way, gougeres make a splendid hors d'ouevre. They have an air of fanciness to them, but they're downright easy to prepare. Serve them hot and with a glass of champagne or white wine.)

So back to the souffle. I popped it in the oven and dutifully waited by the door until the obligatory 25 minutes had passed. I also downed a couple of glasses of wine to ease my nerves and entertain my guests. Through the oven window I could see the souffle start puffing up, true to its name (souffler means 'to puff up' in French).
When the top was browned and airy, I pulled it out of the oven and it thanked me by immediately collapsing down like a cheap feather pillow. My worst fears were realized! Luckily my guests were too polite to say anything.


While the subtly spicy flavor and tender texture was very good, I missed the volume and pizazz that should accompany a properly puffed souffle. A souffle should sashay and bounce. Mine limped.
So what happened? Should I not have left it out on the counter? Maybe the dish was too large and the batter couldn't rise properly? I used an 8 cup capacity dish, but made a recipe that called for 6 cups. Maybe I didn't beat the eggs whites properly. I was afraid of over-beating so maybe they didn't achieve enough volume to begin with.
Will the souffle rise to glittering stardom as I had predicted? Probably not. There may be a reason why the cheese souffle was lost in the recipe books. It's kind of a pain in the ass to make (lots of steps, results are not guaranteed), it has to be timed precisely, and it's not a filling meal for the the amount of time invested in its production. I think my guests were still hungry, despite a large side salad of frisee, butter lettuce, toasted pecans, pear and lemon vinaigrette. I served brownies for dessert with some ice cream. All in all, a good dish, but not one I will make again soon.

Souffle au Fromage
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child

For 4 people

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and butter and coat in cheese the souffle dish:
6 cup souffle mold
1 tsp butter
1 T grated swiss or parmesan cheese

Souffle Base:
3 T butter
2 1/2 quart saucepan
3 T flour
wooden spatula or spoon
1 cup boiling milk
wire whisk
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
pinch nutmeg
4 egg yolks

Melt the butter in the saucepan. Stir in the flour with wooden spoon and cook over medium heat until butter and flour foam together, a total of 2 minutes. Don't brown the mixture. Remove from heat and when mixture has stopped bubbling, pour in all the boiling milk at once. Beat vigorously with a wire whip until blended. Beat in the seasonings. Return over moderately high heat and boil, stirring with the whisk, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and immediately beat in the eggs yolks, one at a time, beating furiously to combine. You can prepare the base to this point ahead of time. Dot the top with melted butter and set aside until you want to use it.

Egg Whites and Cheese:
5 egg whites (room temperature)
pinch salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3 ounces coarsely grated swiss or parmesan cheese

Beat egg whites in an unlined copper bowl or in an impeccably clean and dry aluminum/ceramic bowl. I used my stand mixer. Add the cream of tartar and salt and beat until stiff peaks form. You will know because the egg whites will just be able to stand up on their own when you lift the whisk from the bowl. Don't over-beat or the souffle will be dry. Stir a big spoonful of egg whites into the prepared base and all but a tablespoon of the cheese. Delicately fold in the rest of the egg whites. If you don't know how to fold in egg whites, check out this video.

Baking:
Turn the souffle mixture into the prepared mold, which should be almost three quarters full (mine wasn't, probably a fatal error). Tap the bottom of the mold lightly on the table and smooth the surface of the souffle with the flat of a knife. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Set on a rack in middle of preheated oven and immediately turn heat down to 375. Do not open door for 20 minutes. In 25-30 minutes the souffle will have puffed about 2 inches over the rim of the mold, and the top will be nicely browned. Bake 4-5 minutes more to firm it up and serve at once.

..................................................................................................................................

Cook 2: Roasted Garlic Souffle


I was really excited about this project--I've never made souffle before and I was definitely a bit intimidated. At my boyfriend's suggestion I watched the Good Eats souffle episode (available on youtube) and it was incredibly helpful! In the episode Alton makes a basic cheese souffle, so I just followed most of his instructions but used roasted garlic for the flavoring instead of cheese. I was really worried that something would go wrong and it wouldn't rise but after about 15 minutes in the oven I could see little peaks sticking up over the edge and knew that it was working! This turned out to be much simpler than I ever expected, and definitely a dish that will be added to my repertoire.

Roasted Garlic Souffle
Adapted from Alton Brown's Cheese Souffle

Ingredients:
1 tbsp ground parmesan
1 head garlic, roasted and chopped in the food processor
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
pinch of salt
1 1/2 c milk, heated
4 egg yolks
5 egg whites
1 tbsp water
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1. Before you start anything set the oven to 375. The oven needs to preheat and then stay on for another 15-20 minutes to heat up the walls so that all of the hot air doesn't escape when you open the door to put the souffle in.
2. Butter your souffle dish and coat with ground (I just used the smallest grate possible) parmesan. Put dish in freezer.
3. Make a roux: melt butter over medium heat, then add flour and salt and whisk for 2 minutes over low heat.
4. Stir in heated milk and bring to a boil.
5. Whisk egg yolks until light yellow and creamy. Turn off heat and temper egg yolks with milk mixture (bechemel) by adding a small amount of bechemel at a time and whisking well to combine. Add a tbsp at a time 3 or 4 times and then dump the eggs into the bechemel and combine well. Set aside to cool (this needs to come to room temperature before being combined with the egg whites).
6. Beat egg whites, water and cream of tartar to stiff peaks.
7. Stir 1/4 of egg whites into yolk mixture. Then fold in the rest a third at a time, being as gentle as possible. It's ok if there are some white streaks.
8. Pour into souffle dish. Smooth the top and run your thumb around the edge to help the souffle rise straight.
9. Cook for 35 minutes without opening the oven door. As tempting as it may be, do not open the door until the timer has gone off or the souffle will fall. I just left the light on and stared at it the whole time. Test with a knife to make sure its ready (firm at the top but still somewhat gooey at the bottom).
10. Attempt to serve as best you can (we ended up with globs of souffle but it still tasted delicious) and enjoy!

I served this with oven roasted asparagus (roasted in the toaster oven).