SoufflÉ Au Fromage Serb Recipes

JULIA CHILD'S CHEESE SOUFFLE

Steps:

• Start by buttering the mold and sprinkling with cheese. I chose to use Parmesan cheese because it grated finer than Gruyere. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• The foil wrap: This will make sure that your souffle will not spill over and will keep a high mold.
• Tear a long enough piece of foil so that it is long enough to wrap around your mold. Fold in half length-wise and butter one side. The buttered side will be the "inside" of the mold. Wrap the foil around the mold. If your mold has little handles like mine does, cut small slits so the foil can fit. Secure lose top ends with paper clips.
• Melt the 3Tb of butter in a sauce pan and stir in the flour with a spatula, cooking over medium heat until the butter and flour foam together for about 2 minutes without browning.
• Remove from heat. When mixture has stopped bubbling, pour in all of the boiling milk at once and beat vigorously with a whisk until well blended.
• Beat in the seasonings, cayenne or paprika, nutmeg and salt and pepper. Return to moderate heat and continue to stir with a whisk for another minute. The mixture will be very thick.
• Remove from heat, take the egg yolks and beat 1 egg yolk into your white cream mixture one at a time until well incorporated.
• Now for the egg whites. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, begin to beat your egg whites with a whisk attachment on low speed. You will see that the egg whites will "break up" and begin to have a foamy consistency.
• As the egg whites are foaming, increase the speed gradually and add cream of tartar and a pinch of salt. Increase the speed to fast and continue to beat for a few more minutes.
• Do not leave your egg whites! Continue checking them. What you want to see are "traces" on the surface. The egg whites should also have a glossy white sheen and be able to be stiff and firm when holding with a whisk.
• Once the egg whites are done, don't let them sit for long. Take a large spoonful and stir it into the cream mixture to lighten it.
• Stir in all but about 1Tbl of the grated cheese into the cream mixture.
• There is a technique with folding the rest of the egg whites. Take one large spoonful of the egg whites and using your spatula, cut down the middle and draw the spatula under, while scraping the side of the pan and turning the pan with the other hand. Basically, you folding under and to the side.
• Continue with the rest of the egg whites. Be careful not to over fold. It's OK if there are white streaks leftover. Now your mixture is ready! Carefully pour your mixture into the prepared mold. It should be about 3/4 high. Tap the mild carefully to even it out and top with remaining Tb of cheese.
• Place on middle-back rack of pre-heated 400 degree oven.Once in, immediately turn down to 375 degrees.
• Bake for exactly 30 minutes and DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT open the oven door ever during that 30 minutes!
• The souffle will have puffed up a few inches over the mold and will be a gorgeous golden brown on top. Insert a tester, if it comes out clean, it's done.
• To serve: Use 2 spoons and lightly puncture the top of the souffle. Don't scoop from the bottom, that will deflate it, just spoon vertically.

SOUFFLé AU FROMAGE

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
• Butter the inside of a 6 cup souffle mold and sprinkle it with 1 Tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese. .
• In a heavy saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, slowly.
• Stir in 3 tablespoons of flour with a wooden spoon and cook over moderate heat until butter and flour foam together for 2 minutes without browning.
• Remove from heat; when the mixture has stopped bubbling, pour in 1 cup of milk, that's been heated just to boiling, all at once.
• Beat vigorously with a whip until blended.
• Beat in 1/2 teaspoon of coarse salt, 1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper, a pinch of cayenne pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.
• Return over moderately high heat and boil, stirring with the whip, for 1 minute. Sauce will be very thick.
• Remove the sauce from the heat.
• If you haven't done so already, immediately start to separate 5 eggs.
• Drop the whites into a bowl, add 4 yolks into the center of the hot sauce and beat in well, one at a time.
• Note, ONLY 4 YOLKS in the sauce, but save 5 WHITES! Adjust seasonings at this point.
• Add your egg whites to a clean mixing bowl with a pinch of salt and beat until stiff.
• Stir a big spoonful of the beaten whites into the sauce.
• Stir in 1 cup (minus 1 tablespoon) of grated Swiss cheese.
• Delicately fold in the rest of the egg whites. Be careful not to over-fold! This is a very important step!
• Turn the souffle mixture into the prepared mold, which should be almost 3/4 full. Tap bottom of mold lightly on the table, and smooth the surface of the souffle with the flat of a knife.
• Sprinkle the reserved tablespoon of Swiss cheese on top.
• Set on a rack in the middle of a preheated 400 degree oven and immediately turn the heat down to 375 (DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN 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 more minutes to firm it up, then serve at once.
• A well baked souffle 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 souffle is to be eaten.
• To serve a souffle, puncture the top lightly with a serving spoon and fork--held vertically--and spread it apart for each serving!
• Bon Appetite!

CHEESE SOUFFLé (SOUFFLé AU FROMAGE)

Steps:

• Use a 6-8 cup souffle dish or 4 individual 10 ounce souffle dishes.
• Pull a sheet of aluminum foil slightly more then 3 times longer then the diameter of the dish and fold it lengthwise over itself with the shiny side showing. The foil strip should be wide enough to cover the outside of the dish and rise at least 3 inches above the rim.
• Rub the strip of foil and the inside of the dish with softened butter. Wrap the foil around the dish and attach it by pinching together at the top so it stays in place (you can also use a paper clip).
• Evenly sprinkle the Parmigiano-Reggiano all around the dish and the foil until they are covered with a layer of cheese. Do NOT touch the inside after this point. Put dish in refrigerator.
• Make the Mornay Sauce: Melt butter in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir in the flour with a whisk until smooth. Gradually pour in milk while whisking and bring to a simmer over high heat, while continuing to whisk. Boil for a couple of minutes until sauce thickens a bit and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat, stir in Parmigiano-Reggiano, and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Whisk in egg yolks one at a time. Reserve up to 2 days, covered.
• Preheat oven to 350°F if you are using a 6 or 8 cup souffle dish or to 375°F if you are using individual souffle dishes.
• Beating and Folding: Put egg whites into a very clean bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk. Turn on low to break up the whites. Add a pinch of salt and a small pinch of cream of tartar. Gradually increase speed to high. Keep a sharp eye on the whites, it only takes about 4 minutes to get to stiff peaks - that's when they stick straight out when you hold the whisk or beater sideways, instead of softly flopping over. Take the bowl off the standing mixer and finish the soufflé by hand (or 6-8 minutes by hand).
• Take out one-fourth of the beaten whites and stir into 1 cups of the cooled (but not cold) Mornay Sauce - this lightens up the Mornay and makes it easier to fold in the whites.
• Pour the Mornay Sauce down the side of the bowl containing the remaining whites and sprinkle the 3/4 cup finely grated cheese over the top. Fold everything together using a rubber spatula, pressing the spatula down to the bottom of the bowl where most of the heavier sauce base will have settled and lift up the base, gently folding it over the whites. Continue cutting into the whites, but not pushing against them, to combine the mixture. Don't overdo it; a few uncombined pieces of white are less of a problem than overworking the mixture.
• Gently pour the mixture into the soufflé dishes - the mixture should come up somewhere between 3/4ths of the way up and the top. Slide the sheet pan of soufflés into the oven. Turn up the oven to 375°F or to 385°F if making individual souffles.
• Bake a large souffle for 40 to 50 minutes or individual souffles for 15 to 20 minutes. Soufflés are done when risen about half its original height and when sheet pan jiggled back and forth the tops won't rock - if the insides are underdone, the tops will rock slightly.
• Side Note: "If you rush the soufflé to the table and cut into it and see that it's undercooked, don't panic. Be as nonchalant as possible and just put soufflés back in the oven and cook it a few more minutes. An underdone soufflé won't fall much once out of the oven, an overdone one will.".
• Take the sheet pan with the soufflés out of the oven and immediately pull away the collar, and bring the souffle to the table. If you are serving individual soufflés, put each souffle on a plate and sit it before a guest. If you are serving one big soufflé, serve it at the table on heated plates. Make sure everyone gets some savory crust. The creamy center should function as a sauce for the rest.

SOUFFLé DU FROMAGE (CHEESE SOUFFLé)

Steps:

• 1. Make white sauce: Stir together butter and flour in a sauce pan over low heat until smooth and well-blended. Over medium heat, gradually stir in milk until smooth, and it just comes to a boil. Remove from heat and cool 1 minute, stirring.
• 2. Stir about 2 tablespoons of the white sauce into the beaten egg yolks, to "temper" the yolks and keep them from cooking.
• 3. Then, add to the white sauce, stirring well, the cheeses and beaten egg yolks. Cool mixture to room temperature.
• 4. While mixture is cooling, beat the egg whites until softly stiff, but not dry. Fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture.
• 5. Immediately pour entire mixture into a well-greased and lightly floured soufflé dish. This dish should be round, about 7-8" in diameter, with tall straight sides. Use shortening or butter to grease it with, and lightly dust with real flour. I haven't had much success using Baker's Joy Cake Release or similar products.
• 6. Decorate the top of the soufflé with paper-thin slices of Swiss cheese cut into fancy shapes. Bake 25-30 minutes or until set. Serve immediately, before it loses its "pouf".