So You Want To Know How To Make A Souffle?

When we started Down By The River B and B, we wanted to have a dish that was not something you would see in a restaurant menu. We wanted something that would make the guests remember our breakfast and talk about it to friends. So we came up with the idea of making soufflés.

“Soufflé” just the word brings fear to many cooks. Have you thought – “Oh that is just to hard for me to do.” or “Soufflés are so temperamental, I wouldn’t be able to get it right” or “I couldn’t ever do that I am not a chef.” These are just some of the things that have been told to me by guests after we have served the soufflé to them at Down By The River B and B’s breakfast. There are others that have asked us How do you make a soufflé and can I have the recipe?

Mike and Angie can both make the soufflé without any fear or trepidation. It is a simple process and really can flow like clockwork. The preparation of the ingredients is the key to everything you do and soufflés are not any different.

You want to make sure that you have all of your ingredients ready when you start. It does help to have someone whip the egg whites just before you need them but it really isn’t necessary to the process. The biggest trick is that you need to practice getting the mixture the right consistency prior to shutting off the heat. Once you have that the rest is easy.

So now here is the recipe for making the Gruyere Cheese Soufflé that we feature at Down By The River B and B.

Souffles Fresh From The Oven

Gruyere Cheese Soufflé

Ingredients

½ stick – Butter

¼ cup –   Fine grated Parmesan cheese

5 Tbsp –  Flour

1 ¼ C –   Whole milk

¼ C –      Sauvignon Blanc white wine

Pinch –    Nutmeg

Pinch –    Cayenne Pepper

1 Tsp –    Salt

¼ tsp –    Black pepper

1 ¼ –       Freshly grated Gruyere cheese

¼ –          Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

6 –           Large egg yolks

8 –           Large egg whites

Directions

• Prepare 6 – 7 ounce ramekins by thinly but fully coating the sides and the bottoms with unsalted butter.
• Coat the ramekins with a layer of finely grated Parmesan cheese and knock out as much excess as possible.
• Mix flour, salt, black and cayenne pepper and nutmeg together in a bowl.
• Separate egg yolks from the whites.
• Melt butter in the pan to about 250 degrees.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Add the flour mixture and stir until the mixture has been fully coated by the butter.
• Add the milk to the mixture stir removing lumps as you stir and adjust heat until the mix is just barely bubbling.
• Add the wine while the mix is still liquid.
• Stir until mixture is smooth with no lumps and about the consistency of thick but still runny white gravy then shut the heat off
• Add the egg yolks and stir until the yolks are fully blended into the mixture.
• Spread the cheeses by sprinkling over the entire mixture surface.
• Fold the cheeses into the mixture.
• Beat the egg whites to where it isn’t soupy but just slightly stiff.
• Add the egg whites one half at a time and fold into the mixture. Make sure that there aren’t any areas with the mixture that is clumped.
• Put the soufflé into the oven then adjusting the temperature to 375 degrees
• Cook for 30 to 35 minutes and don’t open oven door until ready to remove
• Add a dusting of Gruyere Cheese on top of the soufflé prior to serving. (optional)
• Serve immediately

Tags: breakfast Down By The River, Down By The River recipe, souffle

This entry was posted 14 years ago on Tuesday, March 15th, 2011. and is filed under Recipes.