The only way you’ll get
this is to make it at home. Hardly anyone hears about souffles in the media or
restaurants. If Martha Stewart has shown how to make one, I haven’t seen it. A soufflé
lives in a cookbook.
I hadn’t made a soufflé for
many years but suddenly I had a reason. After the dentist extracted a front
tooth, she told me to eat soft foods for a while. I ate some tomato soup,
yogurt and bread pudding, and then decided that I could use some imagination in
my new eating regimen. Cheese soufflé seemed to be a good idea. I went to my
big fat worn out 1953 Better Homes and
Gardens New Cookbook and found the recipe, which I adapted by reducing the
ingredients and rewriting some words.
Once again I thanked my
seventh and eighth grade home economics teacher, Mrs. Robertson, whom I haven’t
seen for about sixty years and who probably is in the great kitchen in the sky,
for teaching me the procedures that this recipe requires. Actually, it’s easy
to make a soufflé. This is a small one. It’s supposed to be puffy when it comes
out of the oven, and it will fall from its glorious volume almost immediately,
so it must be eaten right away.
Cheese Souffle
2 tablespoons butter ¼ pound cheddar cheese, shredded
or in small pieces
2 tablespoons flour 2 well beaten egg yolks
¼ teaspoon salt 2 stiff beaten egg whites
1/2 cup milk
Preheat the oven to 300 or
315 degrees. Melt the butter. Add flour and salt and blend. Add milk gradually
and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the sauce is thick and smooth. Add the
cheese and cook until the cheese is melted. Gradually stir the hot sauce into
the beaten egg yolks. With electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they are
stiff but not dry. Carefully fold the cheese sauce into the egg whites with a
wide spoon. Pour the soufflé into an
ungreased one-quart baking dish. To make a crown, trace a circle through the
top of the mixture one inch from the edge.
Bake about one hour and fifteen minutes until it is firm and brown on
top. Serve immediately.
No comments:
Post a Comment