Preparing the mold for the soufflé
So that the soufflé may slide easily up during its rise, butter the sides and bottom of the mold heavily. Then roll grated cheese or bread crumbs around inside it, paying particular attention to the inner circumference, which must be lightly but evenly coated. Turn the mold upside down and knock it on the table to dislodge excess cheese or bread crumbs.
PLACEMENT IN THE OVEN
A soufflé will always perform as it should if it is placed on a rack in the middle level of a preheated goo-degree oven and the temperature is immediately reduced to 375 degrees.
WHEN IS IT DONE?
After 25 to 30 minutes of baking in a 375-degree oven, the soufflé will have risen 2 or 3 inches over the rim of the mold and will have browned on top. If you like the center creamy, it may be served at this point, but it is fragile and will sink rapidly. It will collapse less readily if you allow it to cook 4 to 5 minutes more, until a trussing needle or thin knife plunged into the center through the side of the puff comes out clean. A well-cooked soufflé will stay puffed for about 5 minutes in the turned-off hot oven. As it cools, it begins to sink. Therefore, there should be no lingering when a soufflé is to be eaten.
HOW TO SERVE A SOUFFLÉ
Puncture the top of the soufflé lightly with a serving spoon and fork—held vertically—and spread it apart for each serving.
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SOUFFLÉ AU FROMAGE
[Cheese Soufflé]
This recipe is intended as a detailed guide to those that follow. All main. soufflés follow this general pattern:
For 4 people
The soufflé sauce base
6-cup soufflé mold 1 tsp butter 1 tbsp grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Measure out all your ingredients. Butter inside of soufflé mold and sprinkle with cheese.
| 3 tbsp butter | A 2½-quart saucepan |
| 3 tbsp flour | A wooden spatula or spoon |
| 1 cup boiling milk | A wire whip |
| ½ tsp salt | ⅛ tsp pepper |
| A pinch of cayenne pepper | Pinch of nutmeg |
Melt the butter in the saucepan. Stir in the flour with a wooden spatula or spoon and cook over moderate heat until butter and flour foam together fora minutes without browning. Remove from heat; 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 wire whip, for 1 minute. Sauce will be very thick.
4 egg Yolks
Remove from heat. Immediately start to separate the eggs. Drop the egg whites into an egg white bowl, and the yolk into the center of the hot sauce. Beat the yolk into the sauce with the wire whip. Correct seasoning.
(*) May be prepared ahead to this point. Dot top of sauce with butter. Heat to tepid before continuing.
The egg whites and cheese
¾ cup (3 ounces) coarsely grated Swiss, or Swiss and Parmesan, cheese
Reheat sauce if it was set aside. Add cheese and mix thoroughly until fully melted and incorporated into the sauce. Sauce should be smooth.
5 egg whites
A pinch of salt
- Combine is a clean, dry mixing bowl and whip until stiff.
- Transfer sauce to a mixing bowl and stir a big spoonful (about one quarter of the egg whites) into the sauce. Stir in all but a tablespoon of the cheese.
- Delicately fold in the rest of the egg whites. Be careful not to overfold (see below).
Baking
Turn the soufflé mixture into the prepared mold, which should be almost three quarters full. Tap bottom of mold lightly on the table, and smooth the surface of the soufflé with the flat of a knife. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
Set on a rack in middle level of preheated 400-degree oven and immediately turn heat down to 375. (Do not open oven door for 20 minutes.) In 25 to 30 minutes the soufflé will have puffed about 2 inches over the rim of the mold, and the top will be nicely browned. Bake 4 to 5 minutes more to firm it up, then serve at once.
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Folding sauce into whipped egg whites
First stir a big spoonful of egg whites into the soufflé mixture to lighten it. Then with a rubber scraper, scoop the rest of the egg whites on top. Finally, still using your rubber scraper, cut down from the top center of the mixture to the bottom of the saucepan, then draw the scraper quickly toward you against the edge of the pan, and up to the left and out, as illustrated. You are thus bringing a bit of the soufflé mixture at the bottom of the pan up over the egg whites. Continue the movement while slowly rotating the saucepan, and rapidly cutting down, toward you, and out to the left, until the egg whites have been folded into the body of the soufflé. The whole process should not take more than a minute, and do not attempt to be too thorough. It is better to leave a few unblended patches than to deflate the egg whites.
From Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol 1 by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck. pp162-4
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