Why It Works
- Cream of tartar helps prevent accidental overbeating of egg whites.
- Whisking by hand gives you more control over your results. (The recipe will still work with an electric mixer, though.)
- Greasing the baking dish and dusting it with grated cheese creates a beautifully browned crust.
The mere mention of the wordsouffléwrenches my stomach and sends a ripple of nausea up my throat; blood presses against my arteries as my heart quickens; my upper lip slides up on one side in an anxious snarl and my nostrils flare to take in more air.
Soufflé anxiety, or "soufflanxiety," as it's clinically known, is very much a real thing, suffered by millions of cooks all over the world. But my case is different. I'm not worried about soufflé itself—no, soufflé is easy, stupid easy,souffloopideasy. Anyone worried about a catastrophic soufflé collapse needs to find something else to fret about, because there's nothing hard about soufflé at all.
My soufflé anxiety is a form of PTSD—post-traumatic soufflé disorder—and it dates back to when I worked atFood & Winemagazine. I wrote a monthly column dedicated to nerdier culinary projects, like making tofu from scratch and all kinds of fermentations, each month consulting an expert to help me perfect the process in question. I'd finally decided to tackle soufflé, and reached out to Jacques Pépin, the legendary French chef, to ask if he'd mentor me. He agreed, and invited me to theInternational Culinary Center, (now the Institute of Culinary Education) where he's a dean, for a marathon soufflé-making lesson. Here it was, finally, my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hang out with Jacques Pépin while making soufflés.
The morning of our session, I woke up in my Brooklyn apartment, got ready to go, and set out the door. A quick train ride over the Manhattan Bridge, and I'd be at the ICC's Soho location. My train breezed over the bridge, entered the tunnel on the Manhattan side, and then lurched to a stop. Then it didn't move, and it didn't move, and it didn't move. Cut off from my cellular lifeline, I couldn't send a message to anyone about my status. I waited, tapping my feet, grinding my teeth, letting out forceful exhalations of impatience, and, almost definitely, punctuating the quiet with increasingly loud curses.
Eventually the train dragged itself into the station, and I bolted out and up to the street. I knew that if I sprinted the remaining few blocks, I could make up at least some of the lost time. So I ran...right into the biggest street construction site I've ever seen. It was impassable, a wall of barricades, trucks, cranes, and workers insisting I go in the wrong direction.
I like to tell myself that by the time I finally dashed up the stairs at ICC and into the kitchen-theater where Pépin was waiting, I was a good 10 minutes late. But I also know that I've had years to rewrite that day in my head, whittling down my lateness to a number I can live with. Pépin, for what it's worth, was nice about it, but I could tell he was pissed. Ugh, I just shivered writing that last line.
So...what's all this about soufflés being hard? They're not. The universe can conspire against you in many ways. It can stall your train, cut off your mode of communication, and throw literal roadblocks in your path. But it won't make your soufflé fall, especially if you follow my advice. And I've been taught by the best.
Breaking Down Soufflé (Without a Tragic Soufflump)
A soufflé is a fundamentally simple thing that leverages the power of eggs to achieve impressive results. All classic soufflés, sweet and savory, start with a base that provides richness and structure. In savory soufflés, like the cheese soufflé I'm demonstrating here, the base is a thickbéchamel sauce, usually calling for about three tablespoons flour per cup of milk (though my recipe bumps this up to three-and-a-half tablespoons for just a slightly thicker and more robust result). For comparison, one to two tablespoons of flour thickens a cup of milk into a silky but pourable sauce, like the gravy you get on biscuits.
In sweet soufflés, the base is often pastry cream, though Pépin showed me in our lesson that you can just as easily sweeten béchamel and make a dessert soufflé from that.
Into that base, a few key ingredients are added. Egg yolks get whisked in for even more richness, and coagulation—as the eggs cook, they set, just like when you fry or scramble them, allowing the soufflé to hold onto its loft for at least some time before deflating.
Along with the yolks go any seasonings you may want; they're not essential beyond salt and pepper, but you can punch up the flavor with a spoonful of mustard or a few dashes of hot sauce if you want.
After that, stiffly beaten egg whites are mixed into that rich yellow base in two additions. The first is stirred in more aggressively to loosen the base enough to accept the second addition, which should be gently folded in without too much effort.
That gentle folding is key, since you want to keep as many of the tiny air bubbles trapped in the beaten whites as you can. The more you mix, and the more vigorously you do it, the more air bubbles you lose.
Once in the oven, those air bubbles expand as gases and steam inflate them. That's what causes a soufflé to rise, and really, there's no stopping it—your beaten whites will contain air bubbles and those air bubbles will expand, and when they do your soufflé will push higher and higher in its baking dish. Sure, there are some factors that can affect exactly how this all plays out, but play out it will.
The last key ingredient in a cheese soufflé is the cheese. You can use various types, but a flavorful, good melter like Gruyère or cheddar is ideal.
Soufflé Ingredient Ratios (Soufflatios)
I started my recipe research for this article by creating a spreadsheet that mapped nearly 10 different respected soufflé recipes against each other. My goal was to see where, and to what degree, their ratios and other key details, like oven temperature, differed. The answer: not a lot.
You have some room to play with a soufflé, a little more or less flour in your béchamel, maybe, or slightly different oven settings, but stray too far and you've left camp soufflé and veered into other territory. Add too much more flour, for example, and your soufflé is going to start to resemble a cake; too little and it'll be too thin to hold its shape, spilling up and over the sides of its container.
You could try to dramatically alter the number of eggs relative to the béchamel base, but that's a relationship that's pretty well established, and it delivers the results we all think of when we think "soufflé" (in truth, you can reduce the béchamel base all the way down to nothing and still make what's known as a soufflé omelette, a related, but different and less stable, preparation).
In my own recipe, I opted for an amount of flour in my béchamel that's leaning toward the high end of what's generally called for. It makes a soufflé that rises just a little less dramatically, but it still rises plenty, as you can see in the photos. In exchange, it has a bit more substance, which is what I like about it; a savory soufflé should feel like a meal, not a magic trick that puffs itself up before your eyes only to fade away and never make it to your stomach.
Soufflé Oven Temperatures (Is It Getting Soufflhot in Here?)
The oven temperature has a couple important effects on a soufflé. First, the heat of the oven is a critical "ingredient" for getting a soufflé to rise; it's what causes gases to expand inside all those trapped air bubbles and what converts moisture in the soufflé batter to steam. Together, those forces expand the air bubbles and cause the soufflé to swell. The hotter the oven, the more quickly and fully those air bubbles expand. My tests confirmed this: A 400°F oven produced a marginally taller soufflé than a 375°F oven did.
The heat also sets the proteins in the egg yolks and whites, allowing the soufflé to keep some of its height after cooling. Without the eggs setting, the soufflé batter would remain liquid and would immediately collapse back down to its original state as soon as it cooled. Even still, a soufflé will deflate as soon as it leaves the oven. The photos in this article were taken within about a five-minute window of the soufflé being removed from the oven, so the collapse shouldn't be dramatic (after all, that's why we use a base like béchamel in the mixture—to give it staying power), but it will happen noticeably and slowly as the soufflé cools. The soufflé, to be clear, remains delicious even as it loses its loft (it can also be partially puffed back up by briefly returning it to a hot oven).
Lastly, the heat browns the surface of the soufflé, giving it a deeper flavor, thanks to our good friend theMaillard reaction.
The oven temperature, therefore, allows us to balance a few different factors all at once. The hotter the oven, the more quickly and fully the soufflé will rise, and the faster it will brown and set on the outside. But the soufflé is also more likely to remain runny in the center, since it'd come close to burning on the outside if you were to leave it long enough to cook through to the center. If you like a soufflé with a custardy center, as I do, a hotter oven is more likely to give you that result.
If you use a lower oven temperature, like 350°F or 375°F, you'll get slightly less of a rise, and the soufflé will brown on the outside more slowly.
That buys you time to leave the soufflé in the oven longer, letting it cook through more fully to the center with less risk that the surface blackens in the process. If you like a fully set soufflé, a lower temperature might be your preference.
A Note on Stomping (Stouflomping?) and Opening the Oven Door
Here's a bit of kitchen wisdom that needs to die with all the other kitchen wisdom that's been debunked in recent years: That old commandment not to open the oven door when cooking a soufflé, not to stomp in the kitchen, not to exhale too forcefully on it, etc. I call BS.
To prove it, I cooked two soufflés. One I left undisturbed for the duration of its cooking. The other I abused, opening the oven door every five minutes, slamming it closed, bumping the oven, doing everything I wasn't supposed to. They came out identical.
Like I said, a soufflé will rise.
Beating the Whites (Soufflex Those Muscles)
Brace yourselves: This is the section where I'm going to tell you the one thing you don't want to hear, which is that for the best soufflé, you'll likely get better results if you beat the whites by hand. You don'thaveto, but it's the one part of the process where you really can take more complete control if you use your own horsepower instead of outsourcing it to a motor. (Obviously, if you can't beat the whites by hand for physical reasons, it's totally fine to use an electric mixer; you will still succeed.)
I came to understand the advantages of hand-beating the whites while running my first test batches, during which I used a stand mixer. I'm not a pastry chef, you see, so, while I've beaten my share of egg whites in my life, I'm not as practiced at it as a pastry pro might be. And what I realized was a mixer makes itharderfor those of us who don't beat egg whites every day to properly judge the stage the whites are at in any given moment.
I found myself staring down into the bowl as the beater battered around a blur of whites that was almost impossible to analyze. Worse, the mixer is so powerful that it takes the whites through their respective stages, from a loose foam to firm peaks, very quickly. It's a little too easy to stop the machine, see that it's only at soft peaks, turn it back on, and then discover that you've sped past stiff peaks to grainy ones that are falling apart.
This does not happen when you beat them by hand. With each snap of the whisk, you have immediate feedback on the status of the whites. You can feel when they're liquid, and when they're becoming a foam. As they begin to grow in stiffness, all you have to do is pause your hand for a moment and lift the whisk. Do the peaks slump over on themselves? Start moving the whisk again. The progression is slower than in the bowl of a stand mixer, so you're much less likely to pass your desired stage of firm and glossy whites without noticing it.
And it's really not all that slow. People act like it's some great tribulation to beat egg whites by hand, but it only takes a couple minutes at most, especially if you're using theright kind of whisk(a French whisk).
Jacques Pépin, incidentally, whisked all his egg whites by hand when I had my soufflé session with him, and he talked in greater detail about beating egg whites than I thought possible. He talked about why he prefers fresh, cold eggs for soufflé, since they're thicker and form smaller air bubbles. He described his whisking method, first beating quickly to loosen the whites before slowing down to aerate them, lifting the whites with the whisk and letting them splash back down on themselves without tapping the bowl too much with the tines, a whisking movement that's different (and easier) than the figure eight often used to beat cream by hand. He talked about how he'd beat older eggs whites to a different stage than newer ones, a master's dialing-in to compensate for whites that are less viscous.
He used an expensive copper egg-beating bowl, which helps form more stable beaten whites that are less prone to breaking and weeping (the copper interferes with too-strong sulfur bonds from forming). If you don't have one of those, you can add a little cream of tartar to the whites, an acid that also prevents those sulfur bonds from forming. Or you can skip those tricks and just beat the egg whites alone. In my tests, I noticed almost no difference between the sample with cream of tartar and the plain one, but then I didn't over-beat my whites in either case. If you want an insurance policy against messed-up egg whites, copper or cream of tartar are good ideas.
Say Cheese! (I Got Nothing for This One, so Sou Me)
One final consideration for your savory cheese soufflé: the cheese. You want a good melter with a low water content. That means a semifirm cheese that can be grated into shreds, like Gruyère or cheddar. I tend to reach for Gruyère because it's often used in classic French cooking and also one of my personal favorite cheeses.
I also grate some Parmigiano-Reggiano to dust the interior of the buttered soufflé dish, which helps to form a delicious crispy crust, but I don't mix it into the soufflé itself. I made that mistake one night when experimenting with cheese options and ended up with a soufflé that had a broken, gritty texture. I've seen other recipes that call for it in the soufflé batter, and I'm sure it can work sometimes, but it's not a good melter, which means you risk ruining your soufflé.
Of course, if you want to risk ruining your soufflé, that's your choice. But then don't blame the soufflé if things go wrong, because, like I said, a soufflé won't ruin itself.
Recipe Facts
4.8
(12)
Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 45 mins
Active: 30 mins
Total: 60 mins
Serves: 2 servings
Rate & Comment
Ingredients
3 tablespoons (45g) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the dish
2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese, for dusting the dish
3 1/2 tablespoons (1 ounce; 28g) all-purpose flour (see notes)
1 cup (235ml) whole milk
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon (5ml) Dijon mustard (optional; see notes)
1 pinch cayenne pepper or two dashes hot sauce (optional; see notes)
4 large egg yolks
5 large cold egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (optional; see notes)
3 ounces (85g) freshly grated Gruyère or other semi-firm cheese, such as cheddar
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C) for a more browned soufflé with a slightly looser center or 375°F (190°C) for a more gently cooked soufflé that sets all the way through. Set oven rack in lowest position. Grease interior of 48-ounce ramekin with softened butter. Add some grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, rotating ramekin all around so cheese sticks to every part of buttered surface; add more cheese if you don't have enough or discard any excess. Wipe rim of soufflé dish and transfer prepared ramekin to the refrigerator until ready to use.
In a small saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat (do not allow it to brown). Add flour and whisk to form paste. Continue to cook, stirring, until raw flour scent is gone, about 1 minute. Whisking constantly, add milk in thin, steady stream, or in increments of a couple of tablespoons at a time, whisking thoroughly and getting into all corners of pan to maintain a lump-free texture. Sauce will initially become very thick, then get thin once all the milk is added.
Heat, stirring, until sauce comes to simmer and begins to thicken slightly. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring and scraping the sides and bottom of pan, until sauce is nicely thickened, about 3 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper. Transfer béchamel sauce to large heatproof mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly.
Whisk Dijon mustard (if using) and cayenne or hot sauce (if using) into béchamel. Then, while whisking constantly, work in egg yolks one at a time until thoroughly blended. Set soufflé base aside.
In large mixing bowl, using a French whisk, electric hand blender, or stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, combine egg whites with cream of tartar (if using) and beat until firm, glossy peaks form.
Add 1/3 of beaten egg whites to béchamel base and stir well until whites are thoroughly combined and soufflé base has a looser consistency. Mix in Gruyère. Using a silicone spatula, gently fold remaining beaten egg whites into soufflé base until just combined.
Remove soufflé dish from refrigerator and set on rimmed baking sheet. Scrape soufflé batter into prepared baking dish, filling it up to the inner ridge, not to the top (discard any excess). If desired, using an offset or other spatula, gently smooth and level surface of the soufflé batter.
Transfer soufflé to oven and bake until well risen and nicely browned on top, about 30 minutes at 400°F for less set and 35 minute at 400°F for more set, and 35-40 minutes at 375°F for fully set.
Immediately transfer soufflé to table and serve before it deflates too much, scooping out portions onto each diner's plate.
Special Equipment
48-ounce ramekin, French whisk or electric hand mixer or electric standing mixer
Notes
If desired, you can decrease the flour to 3 tablespoons (24g) for a slightly thinner béchamel sauce and a slightly lighter, but less sturdy, soufflé. Mustard and cayenne pepper or hot sauce add subtle flavor to the soufflé but are not absolutely necessary. Cream of tartar is not required, but it can help prevent accidentally overbeating the egg whites; if you have it, you might as well add it.
FAQs
Is a cheese soufflé hard to make? ›
Cheese Soufflé Recipe: Easy Mode & Hard Mode. A mythical French dish that strikes fear into the hearts and minds of all budding chefs. But fret not, they're actually super easy to make!
What is the base of a cheese soufflé? ›In savory soufflés, like the cheese soufflé I'm demonstrating here, the base is a thick béchamel sauce, usually calling for about three tablespoons flour per cup of milk (though my recipe bumps this up to three-and-a-half tablespoons for just a slightly thicker and more robust result).
What ingredient makes a soufflé rise? ›When the egg mixture is baked in a 350-degree oven, those air bubbles trapped in the egg whites expand, making the souffle rise. The heat also causes the protein to stiffen a bit, and along with the fat from the yolk, it forms a kind of scaffold that keeps the souffle from collapsing.
Why did my cheese soufflé collapse? ›Don't bake it for too long
Those souffles that collapse when a pin drops are too dry. Souffles become dry when they bake for too long. In order to make sure your souffle is cooked enough, but not too much, jiggle the dish just a bit a few minutes before it's supposed to be done baking.
“The hardest part of making a soufflé is when you incorporate the beaten egg white with yolks, and the rest of the batter. You have to be very careful to fold the egg whites slowly, so that they don't melt.”
What texture should a cheese soufflé have? ›WHAT IS THE TEXTURE OF A CHEESE SOUFFLÉ? The texture of the soufflé on the outside should be similar to an omelette, while the centre should be light and fluffy. If the centre is wet and runny, it means it is still raw.
How do you keep a soufflé from falling? ›Also, some tips from Better Homes and Gardens: use a collar, beat your egg whites to a stiff peak but remember to GENTLY fold them in, and don't open the oven door for at least 20-25 minutes to prevent cold air from collapsing the rising souffle. And yes, even properly cooked souffles do deflate somewhat.
What are the three components of a soufflé? ›Every soufflé is made from 2 basic components; a flavoured sauce or purée base, and beaten egg whites. The base provides the flavor and some structural support, and the whites provide the "lift". Common varieties include cheese, chocolate, and lemon (the last two made as desserts, with a good deal of sugar).
How long can a soufflé sit after baking? ›They can easily be refrigerated for two to three hours. Souffles made with heavier ingredients should be baked as soon as possible.
How do you make a soufflé more stable? ›If you are a bit nervous about making a souffle, you can help stabilize the egg whites by adding 1/16th of a teaspoon of cream of tartar per egg white or about half a teaspoon of cornstarch to savory souffles or one or two tablespoons of sugar toward the end of beating the whites of a sweet one, even if the recipe ...
How do you tell if a soufflé is done? ›
How to check when the souffle is perfectly done: To know if the souffle is perfectly cooked inside, you stick a kitchen needle into the middle. It must come out totally clean. If, on the contrary, it comes out wet and covered with egg, prolong the cooking for 2-3 minutes.
Why do souffles have to be served immediately? ›The myth about them falling when there is a loud noise or a slight bump is entirely false. Soufflés will inevitably collapse, not because of being bumped, but because the air that is whipped into the egg whites, which has been heated by the oven, cools, so the soufflé falls. That's why they are best served immediately.
Should you crack soufflé? ›The trick is to know when to stop beating: Under-beaten whites will result in a soufflé that does not rise to its potential, while over-beaten whites result in a tough, cracked soufflé.
What ingredient makes a soufflé light and airy? ›Egg whites contain a bunch of protein, which is the substance that will allow our soufflé to both rise and to set. The process starts by using the whisk or beaters to coax the tightly coiled protein strands so they relax and expand.
What is the secret to a good soufflé? ›There's only one serious secret to the perfect soufflé and that is careful whisking of the egg whites so they keep their volume and puff to a maximum in the oven. The whites should be at room temperature and you can reckon at least one and a half per person.
Do souffles need a water bath? ›A water bath will keep the temperature steady to keep the soufflés from overcooking. Because water only heats to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, it maintains a gentle, steady, evenly conducted heat. If a recipe calls for a water bath, use it.
What goes with cheese soufflé? ›Keep it simple with romaine hearts (grilled if it's the season; you can do it while the soufflé is in the oven), or mixed baby greens—especially something peppery like arugula. Skip the creamy dressing and serve a tangy vinaigrette with balsamic vinegar and olive or walnut oil.
Can I prepare soufflé in advance? ›Souffle may be made up ahead and refrigerated as long as 24 hours. Put souffle in cold oven and bake 50 minutes at 325 degrees. It can also be frozen up to 7 days.
How deep does a soufflé dish need to be? ›At about four inches across and two inches deep, it is the right size to assure thorough cooking.
What is a soufflé Why is it so difficult to make? ›The soufflé is a dish that calls for only a handful of ingredients, making it appear to be simple. But it requires just the right amount of whipping and folding of egg whites to work. And it's with the egg whites that people usually go wrong. For one reason or another, egg whites scare people.
What should a soufflé look like inside? ›
It will be puffed and brown, and it can have a soft center (a little jiggly when the dish is gently shaken) or a firmer center (it doesn't jiggle hardly at all when gently shaken). It depends on how you like your souffle.
Can you open the oven when making souffle? ›Transfer dish to baking sheet in the oven, and reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake until soufflé is puffed and center moves only slightly when dish is shaken gently, about 25 to 35 minutes. (Do not open oven door during first 20 minutes.)
Can you open the oven door when baking a souffle? ›Do Not Open the Oven Door The sudden drop in temperature can cause the souffle to collapse. Serve Immediately Souffles are one of many dishes that need to be served immediately. You cannot make these ahead of time. Within minutes a souffle will collapse.
Can you eat cheese souffle cold? ›A soufflé can be hot or cold, savoury or sweet, an appetizer, main dish, vegetable dish or dessert. It can be an elegant dish to impress guests or the ideal way to use leftovers to create a meal for the family.
How do you thicken a souffle? ›Egg Yolks. Egg yolks provide about twice the thickening power of a liaison and work best in souffles that already contain them. If you're making a souffle that calls for egg yolks, add 1 additional egg yolk for every 1 cup of finished souffle.
What is the ideal temperature for cooking a soufflé? ›Bake in preheated 375° F (190° C) oven until puffed and lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes or until done. Serve immediately.
Do you need cream of tartar for soufflé? ›If you do not have cream of tartar in your pantry, your soufflé will not be ruined. You can make soufflé without adding any acid to your egg whites, as long as you beat them to very stiff peaks. You can also substitute another acid.
Do you grease a soufflé dish? ›Otherwise, any oven-proof, straight-sided casserole or baking dish will do. Whichever dish you choose, it should not be buttered or greased because this hinders the souffle's ability to rise.
Why is making a soufflé hard? ›The Washington Post explains that the protein in egg whites can only expand so much; if you over-whip them, they won't have the elasticity needed to continue to expand in the oven heat, which causes the soufflé to collapse.
Is cheese soufflé a main course? ›A cheese soufflé is usually served as an appetizer or entrée, but not as a dessert.
What's so special about soufflé? ›
Essentially, this delicacy is made by vigorously whipping fresh egg whites alongside other ingredients like sugar, cream, and butter. Depending on the ingredients used, souffle can be either sweet or savory. Chocolate lovers will fall simply love crafting a delicious chocolate souffle.
What can go wrong with a souffle? ›If the temperature is too low, the souffle won't rise properly. If the temperature is too high, the souffle will rise just like a popover with big air pockets inside. Ideally, bake the souffle in the lower third of the oven. There are plenty of theories about why this position is best.
Should you crack souffle? ›The trick is to know when to stop beating: Under-beaten whites will result in a soufflé that does not rise to its potential, while over-beaten whites result in a tough, cracked soufflé.
How do you tell if a souffle is done? ›How to check when the souffle is perfectly done: To know if the souffle is perfectly cooked inside, you stick a kitchen needle into the middle. It must come out totally clean. If, on the contrary, it comes out wet and covered with egg, prolong the cooking for 2-3 minutes.
What side dishes go with a cheese soufflé? ›There's nothing better with the light, airy texture and rich flavor of a cheese soufflé than the crunch and acidity of a salad. Keep it simple with romaine hearts (grilled if it's the season; you can do it while the soufflé is in the oven), or mixed baby greens—especially something peppery like arugula.
What do u Serve with a cheese soufflé? ›Souffles can be served alongside crusty bread or toast, fresh salad, crispy bacon ot whatever you like best. You can also use various cheeses or add different spices and herbs to your souffles according to your own tastes.
What goes good with cheese soufflé? ›Melba toast is one of the quickest and easiest choices you'll ever come across when it comes to what to serve with cheese soufflé.
How do you make a soufflé rise higher? ›Bake the Souffle
Before you preheat the oven, move a rack to the bottom third of the oven, and make sure that any other racks are up high, or removed, so the souffle has room to rise.