Maman’s Cheese Soufflé

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, plus more to butter a 6-cup gratin dish 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups cold whole milk
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 5 extra-large eggs
• 2½ cups grated Swiss cheese, preferably Gruyère (about 6 ounces)
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh chives

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Butter a 6-cup gratin dish, and set it aside. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the flour, and mix it in well with a whisk. Cook for 10 seconds, add the milk in one stroke, and mix it in with a whisk. Keep stirring with the whisk until the mixture thickens and comes to a strong boil, which will take about 2 minutes. It should be thick and smooth.
3. Remove from the heat, and stir in the salt and pepper. Allow about 10 minutes for the white sauce to cool.
4. Meanwhile, break the eggs into a bowl, and beat well with a fork. Add the eggs, the cheese, and the chives to the cooled sauce, and mix well to combine. Pour into the buttered gratin dish and cook immediately, or set aside until ready to cook.
5. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the soufflé is puffy and well browned on top. Although it will stay inflated for quite a while, it is best served immediately.

Notes

When my mother got married, she was seventeen and my father was twenty-two. She did not know how to cook, except for a few simple dishes when she got married that she had learned from her mother. Yet she was willing and fearless.

My father liked cheese soufflé, so my mother gracious, obliged. She had never made a soufflé before, but a friend told her that it consisted of a white sauce (béchamel), grated cheese, and eggs — a cinch! To the béchamel, that staple of the French home cook, she added her grated Swiss cheese and then cracked and added one egg after another to the mixture, stirred it well, poured it into a gratin dish, and baked it in the oven. Voilà! No one had told her that the eggs should be separated, with the yolks added to the base sauce and the whites whipped to a firm consistency and then gently folded into the mixture. Ignorance is bliss, and in this case it was indeed: the soufflé rose to a golden height and became a family favorite.

This is a great recipe; it can be assembled hours or even a day ahead, and although it is slightly less airy than a standard soufflé, it is delicious.