Cheese Soufflé

Cheese soufflé has a reputation of being a difficult dish to make successfully, so most of the people are too intimidated to try it. I can assure you it is not! Basically it's a Béchamel sauce to which you add egg yolks, cheese, spices and stiff egg whites. Et voilà, your soufflé is ready to bake.
If you follow some basic rules you will never fail it!
1) The egg whites are what make the soufflé to rise, so it's critical the whites are very stiff.
2) Wait until the egg mixture is cooled a little bit before adding the whites. Add them in 2 steps as explained in the recipe
3) It is absolutely forbidden to open the oven door while the soufflé is cooking.
4) Prepare the table and be ready to serve the soufflé immediately right from the oven if you want to impress everyone around the table. The French word "soufflé" means "blown". Its elegance lasts only for one moment, after that it collapses. Make sure it is still "blown" when you serve it and your dinner table will be blown away!
My photographer was ready to capture that moment, and to eat the soufflé of course...

The history of soufflé: It is said that king Louis XIV had such a bad dentition that he had to feed on soups most of the time. A cook had the brilliant idea of adding eggs to the Béchamel sauce to turn it into a more attractive soup for the king, creamy and elegant.

The step by step pictures below are not great, my photographer was not available during the preparation. Since I wanted to show you what the soufflé looks like at each step of the process, I took the pictures. You can tell I am not an expert.

Ingredients
¼ cup butter
½ cup flour
1 2/3 cup milk, hot
4 cups grated Gruyere or Emmenthal
4 eggs, separated
Generous pinch of ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste

Souffle dish (8in diameter, 3in deep) or 6 ramequins

Directions 

1. Use 1 tablespoon butter to brush the inside of the soufflé dish(es). 
2. Melt remaining butter in a large saucepan. Whisk the flour and cook few minutes on low to medium heat.

3. Remove from heat and gradually add the milk, continuously whisking until the mixture is smooth.





4. Return to heat and cook 3-4 minutes more, still stirring. Add seasoning.
5. Remove from heat, stir in the cheese and mix well.









6. Add the egg yolks.



7. Pre-heat the oven to 400F.
8. Whip the egg whites until they form peaks and look firm.
9. Add 1/4 of the egg whites to the cheese mixture and mix in.





10. Continue to add the whites gradually, folding gently, and lifting the batter.
11. Spoon the batter into the prepared dish(es). The mixture should fill up to 3/4 of the molds





12. Bake 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. 

Cheese Soufflé (Soufflé au Fromage)

I like to serve it with a leafy greens salad as an elegant start to a special meal.