Cheese Soufflé

January 2017 from American Test Kitchen

Late one evening, watching this most excellent show, they presented a "fool proof" cheese soufflé. It looked delicious and since then I've made it twice. The result is an eggy, light, savory dish. I've made half the recipe given here with great results, and that fed 3 people. It would be a very impressive date night dish paired with a sauvignon blanc.

The photo shows my second soufflé. This is a half recipe and made in a 1 quart Pyrex dish. Half the top got a little bit too brown, still tasted good. And the inside sides were a bit browner than I wanted. I think the Pyrex dish was too thin and transmitted the heat too quickly. This was still impressive to my guests, but next time I'll use a real soufflé dish and take it out a few minutes earlier.

While cheese soufflé is a good start, I want to apply their fool proof recipe to the end of a chocolate soufflé. When I find a process that works I'll add a link here.

Serves 6 to 8.

A. Prep    
vegetable spray    
2 quart soufflé pan    
Parmesan cheese, grated 2 tablespoons  

Heat the oven to 350.

Coat the soufflé pan with vegetable spray.

Dust all the insides of the pan with the Parmesan cheese.

B. flour, white bleached 4 tablespoons  
paprika, sweet 0.25 teaspoon  
salt 0.25 teaspoon  
nutmeg pinch  
cayenne pepper 0.125 teaspoon  
white pepper 0.125 teaspoon  

Whisk these dry ingredients together.

C. butter, unsalted 4 tablespoons  

Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

Add the dry ingredients from Step B all at once and whisk into the butter.

Cook for one minute. Do not brown the flour.

D. milk, whole 1.33 cup  

Add the milk to the pot, a little bit at a time. Whisk after each addition.

Cook for one minute, until the mixture is thickened.

Remove from the heat.
E. Gruyere cheese 6 ounces grated
Parmesan cheese 5 tablespoons grated

Add the cheeses to the pot and whisk until it is all melted. Don't put the pot back on the stove, the residual heat of the pot will do the trick.

Let this cool 10 minutes.
F. egg yolk 6  

Add the yolks to the cheese sauce and whisk them in. The cheese sauce should be pliable but not soupy and not overly tight. It's probably what you need. Note that the temperature of the cheese sauce will temper the egg yolks just slightly, but not cook them.
G. egg white 6  
cream of tartar 0.25 teaspoon  

Be sure there is not any speck of yolk in the whites. And be sure your mixer bowl is squeaky clean. Any oil or yolk will keep the egg whites from whipping.

Add the egg whites to your mixing bowl. Now add cream of tarter.

Mix on low until the egg whites are foamy, then switch to medium high speed until the whites are very stiff, but still a bit glossy. This takes 3 to 4 minutes.
F. Parmesan cheese 1 tablespoon  

Now add the cheese mixture into the blender bowl with the egg whites. Beat on high speed for just 15 seconds.

Pour the mixture into the prepared soufflé dish, leaving one inch of clear space at the top.

Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on the top.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 170. You can also test for doneness by opening the center of the soufflé with two spoons, back to back. The center should be moist but not runny.

Server within 5 minutes.