Julia Child’s Cheese Souffle

Call it jumping on the “Julie & Julia” bandwagon if you want, but I have finally added the seminal work “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” to my ever expanding cookbook collection.  Amazon was having a sale right before Christmas, offering both volumes for a pittance – $40!  What foodie in their right mind would pass up a bargain like that – well, unless they already had said cookbooks.  I waited anxiously for the books to arrive, anticipating all the fancy recipes I would be making and impressing my friends with at parties.  What I didn’t expect was to find the books to be such a joy to read.

From the start of the book, Julia and Simone (and I guess Louisette too) systematically explain every aspect of French cooking – from how to use a knife to selecting the right cooking equipment.  I was in heaven!  While some may not find the intricacies of souffle molds riveting, I couldn’t have been happier!  This was the book I’ve been waiting for my whole cooking life.  And I couldn’t wait to tackle some of her recipes.  I just wasn’t sure exactly where to start.  I contemplated making the Boeuf Bourguignon for a dinner party (and will definitely still do so before Winter ends) but was slightly intimidated by the many steps and ingredients.  That’s when I stumbled upon the section on souffles.

The very thought of making a souffle has always struck fear in my heart.  I’ve seen one too many chefs crying on television because their souffles didn’t puff up to perfection.  I always assumed a souffle was out of my culinary ability range and wrote them off.  But as I continued to read Julia’s recipe, I was struck by how approachable she made them.  In essence, a souffle is a base sauce and whipped egg whites combined together.  What makes them so difficult is ensuring the egg whites are properly whipped and folded into the sauce without over stirring them.  It’s all about precision – something I’m not known for in the kitchen. But with Julia’s instruction, I felt a bit more confident in my ability to pull off a cheese souffle.  So I headed out to Cheesetique in Virginia with Olga and Thrifty DC Cook on Saturday in search of the perfect cheese (more on that fun little trip later).  After consulting with the cute cheesemonger, I settled on an Emmenthaler cheese, a nutty flavored Swiss cheese.

On Sunday morning, I rolled up my sleeves and tackled Julia’s cheese souffle.  I hummed along as I used the food processor to shred the cheese (mistake one) and marveled at how easy it was to put together the base sauce.  In fact, the sauce was the easiest part of the recipe.  Following Julia’s ingredient list exactly, I came away with a flavorful base for my souffle.  Bobbing away in the kitchen, I noticed a comfort in Julia’s methodical approach to cooking.  There was none of my usual haphazard measuring or last minute “Oh my God, I need {insert important ingredient I forgot here}.”  No, I followed Julia’s advice and had all of my ingredients carefully measured out and my equipment at the ready.  All was going well…and then came the egg whites.

I felt a bit smug because I had my lovely Kitchen Aid stand mixer to whip the egg whites for me.  And therein lies the problem…I overwhipped them!  Sure, a sweep of the whisk proved the egg white peaks could stand up as the recipe suggested.

But I had whipped the effectiveness right out of them.  Because the egg whites were so stiff, their rising power was reduced, resulting in a souffle that didn’t (gasp) rise high!  It also didn’t help that the souffle dish I was sold was exaclty the WRONG type of dish for a souffle.  Mon Dieu!

And remember my joy at using my food processor to grate the cheese? Well….I probably should have used my box grater and not the food processor shredder disc.  I had to bake the souffle longer than the recipe suggested because the cheese wasn’t fully incorporated into the batter.  Le sigh.

But even though the souffle didn’t rise to my expectations, it did taste wonderful.  The emmenthaler cheese was the perfect choice, giving it an undercurrent of tangy awesomeness (I think that’s the proper term for it).  Had the flavors not been there, I probably would have written off ever making a souffle again.  But with those lovely flavors still in my head, I decided to tackle the recipe one more time.  But this time, I’m getting a Charlotte mold from Amazon and I’m getting a little help from Julia herself.  Wanna give the souffle a try?  Let Julia help you too – and please tell me how your souffle adventure goes!