Soufflé

In 1999 Julia Child and Jacques Pepin co-published the book, Julia and Jacques, cooking at home. This book is one of my favorites because both chefs write about their similar or differing methods of preparation and cooking. On classic dishes like soufflé there is little variation and in this case Julia sets forth the correct method while Jacques offers up classic options.

I was brought up to believe this dish was a daunting culinary achievement (my culinary reference for soufflé was Samantha on the TV show Bewitched), but with the trusty KitchenAid mixer beating the egg whites I was able to focus on creating a perfect Bechamel and then adding the eggs correctly so that they didn’t scramble and separate the sauce. Rather than the Gruyére that Julia’s recipe calls for I took a walk on the wild side and used a chunk of Rogue River Blue that I had left in the cheese drawer. This blue was so intense that not even Dave, King of All That Is Stinky could enjoy it. My thought was the egginess would temper the roguish blue. This was true and it was tasty and yet pungent. It helped that I found a recipe at A Mingling of Tastes that also used blue cheese. I always look for encouragement when trekking across new territory. Here’s the recipe:

Julia’s Cheese Soufflé
Adapted from Julia and Jacques cooking at home

Butter for greasing the soufflé dish and the parchment collar
2 to 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons butter
4 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups hot milk
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
A grating of fresh nutmeg
6 egg yolks
7 egg whites
4 ounces Rogue River Blue cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 and arrange the racks so they are on the bottom third of the oven.

Butter your dish, I just used a basic casserole dish. Create a collar for the dish out of parchment paper folded in half to form a double layer band. Butter the collar on one side. Coat the soufflé dish with the grated Parmesan.

Crumble up the cheese. Measure the milk and have it ready to put in the microwave to heat it up. Separate the eggs and measure out the flour and the seasonings. Put the butter in a medium saucepan. Set up the mixer so its ready to whip the egg whites. Once you turn on flame under the butter you want to be ready for the whole thing. You have either a wooden spoon or a silicon spatula, a whisk, your eggs are standing by, the mixer is at attention, and you turn on the flame under the butter and punch in 3 minutes on the microwave to heat the milk.

Once the butter has melted over a medium flame you can add the flour. Stir this into a smooth paste and let this roux cook for about 2 minutes but don’t let it take on any color.

Take the pan off the heat, add the hot milk all at once, and whisk it hard to remove all lumps. Put this back on a medium flame and whisk until it boils and then continue to whisk it as it cooks for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the seasonings, stir well.

Hit the power switch on the mixer and start the egg whites. Now add the egg yolks one at a time to the sauce and whisk like crazy as you add them so that they don’t cook when they hit the hot Bechamel. Once the whites are shiny and stiff you can add 1/3 of them to the sauce, stirring well to thin the sauce out. Then add 1/3 of the sauce back into the egg whites. Using your spoon or spatula lift the whites from the bottom of the bowl and fold them over at the top. Do this 1 or 2 times, then add some cheese, add some more sauce, repeat the folding, add, fold, repeat, until the sauce, egg whites, and cheese are combined. Do not over-stir or over-fold.

Pour into the prepared dish, add the collar around the top of the dish, butter side in, and staple it closed with your trusty Swingline Stapler. Put it in the oven for 45 minutes. When it comes out serve it immediately. Enjoy!

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30 December 2006 | baking, eggs, cheese, dairy, food | Comments