THE ORIGINAL ‘RECEIPT’

Two tablespoonsful butter, 2 tablespoonsful flour, ½ cup scalded milk, yolks of 3 eggs, whites of 3 eggs, ¼ teaspoonful salt, a few grains of paprika.

First melt the butter, add the flour, stirring constantly until smooth and bubbling, adding the scalded milk.  Next add the salt, paprika and cheese, bring to the boiling point, stirring constantly.  Remove from the fire, add the yolks of eggs well beaten, then cool the mixture and fold it into the well beaten egg whites.  Pour into a buttered baking dish and bake for 20 minutes in a slow oven.  Serve at once.

~The Moffat Standard Canadian Cook Book: Favourite Recipes of Canadian Women.  Weston, ON: The Moffat Stove Company, Ltd., 1915.

THE UPDATED RECIPE

• 2 Tb. butter (plus a little extra for greasing)
• 2  Tb. flour
• ½ c. milk (scalded)
• 3 eggs, separated
• ¼ tsp. salt
• pinch of cayenne
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 cup grated Cheddar or Gruyere cheese
• ¼ tsp. Cream of Tartar.

Grease 4 ramekins with butter.

Grate the cheese and use some (maybe a quarter of a cup) of the grated cheese to press against the bottom and sides of each ramekin (which will give the soufflé something to “climb on”). Set the ramekins in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them.

On the stovetop, add the milk to a small saucepan, and stir over medium-high heat.  The milk will be scalded when small bubbles appear around the outside of the saucepan, or the temperature registers 180 to 185 degrees F.

On the stovetop in another saucepan (medium-sized), melt the butter over medium heat, and then add the flour.  Stir constantly for 1 minute.  Then add the scalded milk, salt, cayenne, mustard, and the rest of the cheese, and bring to a boil; stir until the mixture is thick and smooth.  Then remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for 10 minutes.  

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Separate the eggs.  Beat the 3 egg yolks and add them to the cooled sauce mixture.  Stir to combine

In a mixing bowl, add the 3 egg whites and the Cream of Tartar, and beat them with a whisk or hand mixer until stiff peaks form.  

Add ⅓ of the beaten egg whites to the cooled soufflé mixture, and mix well.

Then, add the remainder of the egg whites to the souffle mixture and, with a spatula, VERY GENTLY fold the whites into the mixture. It is important that this folding is done gently and gingerly so that the air bubbles in the egg whites don’t get crushed.  Those air bubbles are crucial in getting the soufflé to rise in the oven.

Once combined, divide the mixture evenly between the ramekins, filling them to the top, and use a knife to gently smooth out the surface of each soufflé.

Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated 375F oven for approximately 25-30 minutes until they are golden brown. Try not to open the oven while baking.

Serve immediately. 

Yield: 4 souffles.

This makes a wonderful brunch dish when served with fresh fruit.  It’s also a beautiful supper dish when paired with a salad and fresh baguette.  Cheese Soufflé is rich, cheesy, and pure heaven. Soft and fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside!

A note from Patricia: I had never attempted a souffle before, probably because I’d heard the rumors about how tricky it can be.  I found the original recipe for Cheese Soufflé among others that my aunt had noted “to try”, and had not tested herself, so I thought I would try myself to decipher this old recipe from 1915.  This, however, required research on my part, and so I read countless recipes online that detailed the process and ingredients and ratios, and then watched countless videos in the hopes that I could perhaps make a successful soufflé.  It turns out it’s not really that hard, and because I’m not a perfectionist, I was really only concerned with how good it would taste – if my soufflés didn’t rise to epic proportions, so be it.  Many of the recipes that I read seasoned their cheese soufflés with mustard, which sounded nice to me, so instead of the paprika from the 1915 recipe, I decided upon a bit of dijon and some cayenne for a tiny kick. I used 1:1 gluten-free flour so that I could devour these soufflés, and they turned out beautifully – they rose gloriously high in the oven (YAY!) and then deflated fairly soon after I took them out of the oven and photographed them (Boooooo!). But the taste?  Gorgeous!  I ate one for breakfast with some fresh fruit, and felt pretty fancy.