I grew up watching re-runs of the Julia Child cooking show that was taped in the 1950’s. I sincerely credit her and my family for teaching me how to enjoy and love the process of making great food from scratch. I remember as a kid (probably around eight years old), trying to make crispy meringues at home…I would separate the eggs carefully, whip the whites with a little sugar (usually not enough), and put them into the oven. I would wait patiently as I peered through the glass oven door, but in reality was totally overwhelmed with anticipation in getting my final result out of the oven. Early on, my final product usually resulted in a slightly sweet but dried out egg white omelette, but hey, you gotta start somewhere!
After many years of practice and a good bit of culinary education, today I appreciate the level of skill that is required to make a meringue of any kind. My point is that I truly respect and appreciate everything Julia achieved in her long career. The fruits of her labor continue to create wonderful opportunities for all of us who continue to love the business and the process of food production.
I have been making sweet soufflés for many years, but never had the opportunity to try a savory one. I just happen to be watching the show one day with Julia and Jacques Pepin, and they happened to be making a variety of savory soufflés. The following recipe is the cheese soufflé they made on the show, and it was really delicious. I did a few things differently…one thing is that I added a 1:1 ratio with butter and flour when I made the roux, and lowered the amount of flour to 3 tablespoons from her original 4 tablespoons…I found that this yielded a lighter quality product. I also lowered the number of yolks she used to 3 so that I could add a little more cheese than her one cup. I found that too much fat in the recipe will not let the soufflé rise very well. I also added a few other ingredients and changed the cooking temperature. I made the recipe twice with different results as I continued to tweak each time, and the recipe below yielded the best looking and the fluffiest product.
Fluffy Cheese Souffle (serves 4 people)
3 Tablespoons salted butter
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt (not in Julia’s recipe)
¼ teaspoon white pepper (not in Julia’s recipe)
¼ teaspoon nutmeg (not in Julia’s recipe)
1 ½ cups whole milk
1 ¼ cups grated cheese (I used white cheddar)
3 egg yolks
5 egg whites
1- 8” round soufflé dish
Butter the soufflé dish generously inside and all the way to the top of the dish. Dust with plain bread crumbs or finely ground parmesan cheese. The first time I made this I added the bread crumbs which worked fine. The second time I made it with parmesan cheese, and the smell from the oven was heavenly, however I found the crust to be a little salty…so stick with either bread crumbs or flour.
Next, you need to separate your eggs, shred your cheese (can use cheddar, part skim mozzarella, gruyere, etc), scale out your milk, butter and flour so that you have everything ready for you because this comes together pretty quickly. Add the butter to a small pot and melt it then add your flour. Cook this for a few minutes on moderate heat using a wooden spoon, but do not burn it. It should look like this…
Next add the milk and at this point switch to a metal balloon whisk, and continue to whish everything together until the mixture thickens. It should look like this…
Once it has thickened, set aside until it cools slightly so that you can add your egg yolks. At this point, whip your whites with a pinch of salt (best with a mixer) until soft but not dry peaks, like this…
As the whites are whipping, add the egg yolks to the roux, then the salt, pepper and nutmeg and lastly fold in the cheese. At this point, the egg whites should be ready, so gently fold in the whites, in 2 additions, using a spatula, and then add it to your prepared dish. It should look like this…
Use your finger to make and “impression” in the batter 1” from the edge all the way around, to help the batter rise evenly. Julia used a greased paper collar that she secured with a metal flathead pin. I did not do this, but you can if you like. If you do this, make sure to put a sheet pan under your soufflé dish, because the butter will melt down and settle at the bottom of your oven…not fun when you have that kind of cleaning to do.
The batter should be 1” from the top of the dish. The first time I made it I used an 8” soufflé dish and got this result…
Then I tried it with a 10” dish and got this result…
They were both delicious, but the soufflé is all about the “WOW” factor, so definitely use the 8” dish.
Julia baked her soufflé at 350°F for 45 minutes, and I changed that a little too. I baked mine at 375°F for the first 20 minutes and then at 350°F for the next 20 minutes. Smaller, individual soufflés can tolerate higher temperatures, but the larger ones need a little more time to cook. Don’t overbake your souffle or it will dry out and deflate…the final product should be firm to the touch, but wobbly.
**If you would like to know how to make the 3 different types of meringues, you will find all the info you need in our category titled “instructional”.
www.goodfoodgourmet.com
Leave a Reply