Cheese Souffle Julia Child Style

On a cold wintery morning, there's not much better than a crispy cheese-topped, ooey-gooey, eggily delicious souffle.  There's something so special about the smells of nutmeg, cheese, and cayenne pepper wafting through the house.  It's so tempting to open the oven to get a peak at the home of the comforting smell, but at the same time, there is something exciting about not being able to see it until it is truly and absolutely done.

I'm not going to lie to you, this recipe is not for the impatient or faint of heart.  With many of my recipes, I have found ways to make the recipe more accessable and less time consuming.  Unfortunately, this is not one of those recipes, but I do promise you, it is not as difficult as it looks, and it is totally worth it.

Here is Julia Child's Cheese Souffle recipe, also known as Souffle Au Fromage:

serves 4

The souffle base sauce:

Ingredients:

A 6-cup souffle mold (a 3 1/2 inch high, 6 cup mold)

1 tsp butter

1 Tb grated Swiss or Parmesan Cheese

3 Tb butter
A 2 1/2-quart saucepan
3 Tb flour
A wooden spatula or spoon
1 cup boiling milk
A wire whip
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
A pinch of cayenne pepper

Pinch of nutmeg

4 egg yolks

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Measure out all your ingredients.  Butter inside of souffle mold and sprinkle with cheese.
• 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 for 2 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.
• Remove from heat.  Immediately start to separate the eggs.  Drop the white into the egg white bowl, and the yolk into the center of the hot sauce.  Beat the yolk into the sauce with the wire whip.  Continue in the same manner with the rest of the eggs.  Correct seasoning.
• *May be prepared ahead to this point.  Dot top of sauce with butter.  Heat to tepid before continuing.

For the egg whites and cheese

Ingredients:
5 egg whites
A pinch of salt
Coursely grated Swiss, or Swiss and Parmesan Cheese- 3/4 to 1 cup (3 to 4 ounces) depending on its strength

Directions:

• Add an extra egg white to the ones in the bowl and beat with the salt until stiff.  Stir a big spoonful (about one quarter of the egg whites) into the sauce.  Stir in all the rest of the egg whites.  Be careful not to over fold. (It's better to not have the sauce and the whites totally mixed together than to flatten the whites).

Baking: 

• Turn the souffle 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 souffle 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 door for 20 minutes.)  In 25 to 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 to 5 minutes more to firm it up, then serve at once.

*This recipe is from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child, Simone Beck, and Louisette Bertholle, pgs 163-165

Take the plunge!  It's one of the most delicious things you'll ever eat, and it is truly worth the effort.