Turn Your Cheese Bits into Soufflé
Last night, I ate a cheese cloud. It was puffy, fluffy, richly cheesy, and melted away like cotton candy in my mouth. In other words, I had cheese soufflé. Yes, friends, we’re talking about soufflé, which can seem totally scary but take a deep breath, everything is going to work out. Even a fallen cheese soufflé is freaking delicious – cheesy eggs, YUM! Longtime BBC broadcaster and rabbi Lionel Blue said it best, “If a dish doesn’t turn out right, change the name and don’t bat an eyelid. A fallen soufflé is only a risen omelet.”
Cheese soufflé is my favorite way to use up all the little bits of this and that in the cheese drawer. And let’s face it, we have two cheesemongers with very little willpower living in the same household, which ensures that we always have lots of small chunks of cheese in our fridge. My favorite recipe is Alton Brown’s, which I’ve used for years with (mostly) great success.
One small and very important step in the recipe is to butter the soufflé mold (a.k.a. giant ramekin) and then coat the inside with Parmigiano Reggiano. This creates a toasty cheese layer coating the soufflé and oh my goodness it might be my favorite part. Even though I switch up the cheese all the time, I always use Parmigiano Reggiano DOP G. Cravero for this step because it creates the best crunchy, nutty, salty crust.
I also do try to get a bit of cheddar in the soufflé itself – Pitchfork Cheddar is a very good choice – but other than that, it’s a bit of this, and a bit of that. It just has to be the good stuff, and then it can be anything!
Have I convinced you to give soufflé a shot? It’s a delicious adventure! I like to prep everything before I start – mixing all the dry ingredients together, separating the eggs, all that good stuff – because it makes me feel like I’m in a cooking show. Do it, do it! It’ll be fun!
For the love of cheese and eating cheese clouds,
Kiri
Shop for your Cheese Soufflé
P.S. On the list of things I’m looking forward to making, Yewande Komolafe’s yam and plantain curry is near the top…YUM.