Cheese soufflé recipe with unbearable county

Iconic dish, cheese soufflé is simpler than it seems while respecting some techniques. And so good with an AOP Comté.

This dish is both easy and complex to make, and requires a precise technique to reach perfection.
But with the few explanations that I will give you, it will be a success every time. No worries to have one is more on a traditional grandmother recipe than on an ultra complicated gastronomic put.
You will obtain a light and airy texture, which is obtained thanks to the incorporation of egg whites beaten into snow in a base the Béchamel sauce scented with cheese.

Essential ingredients for a salty soufflé

The basic ingredients are:

• Mild butter
• Flour
• Milk
• Eggs
• Cheese: grated county or Gruyère, Beaufort, Tomme, Emmental, Parmesan…
• Salt, pepper and nutmeg

The main stages of the preparation of the soufflé

We make a béchamel With a lot for so much, that is to say the same amount of butter and flour.
We melt the butter gently, then add the flour suddenly and mix immediately. Once well, we let cook for a few moments by constantly mixing with a wooden spatula. This will cook the flour. We thus make a red.
We then add the milk over medium heat, gradually mixing constantly mixing, always with a wooden spatula or with a whisk. The preparation will gradually thicken.
We stop as soon as the texture is very dense or in the first broth.

Then we separate the whites from the egg yolks By putting the whites in a sufficiently large bowl (or in the spray of the food processor) because we will have to mount the egg whites.
The egg yolks are added to the preparation of Béchamel out of the heat. We add them one by one by mixing immediately.

We then always add the grated cheese out of the heat And we mix. It is important to grate the cheese finely so that it mixes well with Béchamel.
The cheese should be added to the béchamel before the egg whites, so that it has time to melt and mix with the sauce.

We dirty, pepper and add nutmeg, No matter the moment, either at the beginning in the Béchamel, or at the end with the grated cheese. Be careful not too much salt because as there are a lot of cheese, it could give too salty rendering.

Finally We go up the whites in very firm snow And they are gently incorporated into the preparation.

We butter and flour individual ceramic ramekins. We butter the sides with a movement from bottom to top, I explain why right after.
If you do not have ceramic ramekins, you can use other individual molds, such as muffin molds, you will have to adjust the cooking time accordingly.

We fill the individual ramekins with ¾.
Then We cook for 10 minutes at 200 ° C in a preheated oven of course, and we taste immediately

Key techniques to succeed in your soufflés

Realize your béchamel well, the base of the soufflé

Besides the above advice, I tell you everything about Béchamel with a detailed recipe and advice in a dedicated article.

Use a finely grated hard dough cheese

Comté is perfect. It is better to use a hard cheese so that it does not bring too much humidity in the gratin which will then risk being too soft and inflating badly. And grate it finely so that it mixes well with the still hot béchamel.

Prepare very firm snow whites

The preparation of egg whites is a crucial step to succeed in a soufflé. Egg whites should be beaten until they are firm and shiny.
Be careful not too much however, they could then grain. It is important not to incorporate egg yolk into the whites, because it would prevent whites from climbing properly, that’s why they are incorporated into the Béchamel upstream.
Add a pinch of salt could help according to some, but some chiefs say it is useless.

Butter the ramekins in a specific way

Ideally use a kitchen brush, or failing that with your fingers rather than using absorbent paper to spread the butter. Use a soft or half-salt butter at room temperature. It is important that it is very soft to generously adhere to the walls.

Butter the bottom of the ramekins and for the walls, butter by making movements from the top all around. This will create small lines of vertical butter that will help the soufflé climb up in height. It may seem futile but I tested this way and it seems to help.

Cooking advice and service

The soufflé must be cooked in an oven preheated to a high temperature, 200 ° C. It is important not to open the oven door during cooking, as it could drop the soufflé.

For individual ramekins, ten minutes in the oven are enough. The soufflés are cooked when they are well inflated and golden.

A soufflé must be Served immediately after cookingbecause it will start to fall as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Recipe variants

Suffled to different cheeses

I offer you here county But you can use other hard cheeses like THE Beaufort, Le Gruyère, Parmesan, a Tomme de sheep… Or a blue, why not or a soft cheese like Brie and Camembert but if you use a cheese too soft and therefore more humid in its composition, it may be necessary to modify the quantities of the recipe. I will make you proposals soon.

We can also add herbs (fine dry herbs or dried herbs) or various spices To add flavor and vary the perfumes.

Vegetable soufflé

To prepare a vegetable soufflé, you can use a variety of vegetables such as Spinach, mushrooms, carrots, zucchini … Vegetables are steamed or pan -fried and well drained, and used either whole or puree.

Chocolate

The chocolate soufflé is the ultra -greedy sweet version of the classic soufflé. To prepare this recipe, we mix egg yolks with cornstarch, a mixture to which milk and chocolate are added. Then incorporate the egg whites mounted in snow. It is therefore without Béchamel. The soufflé is then baked until it is well inflated.

We can Serve the chocolate soufflé with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream For an ultra decadent dessert.