cheese soufflé Ingredients: 1 tbsp flour 1oz butter 1/4pt milk, 3 eggs, separated 11/2oz each of parmesan and gruyere cheese, grated salt and pepper pinch nutmeg Method: Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas6. Butter a soufflé dish and tie a piece of buttered greaseproof paper around the sides of the mould in case the soufflé rises above the edge. To make the white sauce: melt the butter in a saucepan and then stir in the flour. Cook over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring all the time. Gradually add the milk a little at a time, continuously stirring to make sure there are no lumps. Bring the sauce to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool slightly. Beat in the egg yolks, then the grated cheese. Now season with the salt and pepper and the pinch of nutmeg. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Fold the egg whites lightly into the sauce mixture in two batches. Pour into the soufflé dish and place immediately in the oven. Cook for about 25 - 30 minutes until well risen with a crusty top. Serve immediately. Cook over a gentle heat Heating the butter and flour together makes a roux - this disperses the fat evenly through the flour, making it far easier to add the liquid without forming a lumpy sauce. Bring the sauce to the boil Flour contains starch, long chains of molecules used by the plant as an energy reserve. In uncooked flour the starch molecules are all packed tightly into granules. As you heat the flour, the granules start to swell up as they absorb water from the liquid. Eventually the granules burst open and some of the starch molecules escape and freely enter the liquid. The long starch chains entangle each other and the remaining granules, forming a net throughout the sauce. This net prevents the free movement of the water so the sauce starts to thicken. Clean bowl It's very important that the bowl and whisk that you use to make the meringues in is clean and grease-free. Likewise, make sure that there is no trace of egg yolk in the white. Fats interfere with the foam-stabilising properties of egg whites, so the mixture will not rise as it should. Egg whites until stiff When you whip egg whites the proteins in the egg stabilise the bubbles, giving a long-lasting foam. As the egg whites are beaten, the coiled protein molecules uncurl and position themselves at the surface of the bubbles, preventing them from collapsing. Well risen The soufflé swells as the heated air trapped in the foam, and steam from the cooking process, cause each individual bubble to expand. While the soufflé expands it also starts to set as the egg proteins begin to bind with each other, stabilising the structure. Serve immediately If you want your soufflé to be spectacular, you must serve it immediately. As soon as it starts to cool down, the air cells in the foam will try and shrink. Although they are set in place, the structure is very delicate and it will collapse very quickly. Take home tip Do not open the door while the soufflé is cooking as the sudden blast of cold air may cause it to collapse. To a lesser extent this rule also applies to sponge cakes - although denser, they too derive their lightness from an expanding foam which sets during cooking. << Go Back