Why You Shouldn't Be Scared of Souffles (French Fridays with Dorie)

Souffles seem scary, don't they? First, there's the French name. It sounds so mysterious and intimidating, like only chefs who trained in Paris can make them the right way. Then there's the whole falling factor: the mind imagines hours of cooking resulting in a sunken puddle of goo. Not much could be worse than that. So when we saw that this week's recipe for French Fridays with Dorie was Cheese Souffle, we were, admittedly, a little nervous. Neither of us had ever eaten, never mind cooked, a savory souffle before. This was unchartered territory. And, well, souffles are scary!

Still, we put our trust in Dorie Greenspan and forged ahead. Chris was late getting home so Amy gathered the ingredients and waited, since a souffle certainly has to be timed perfectly. Butter, flour, milk, cheese, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg. Could that really be it? We set to work when Chris came through the door. It wasn't too long before we made our first mistake.

Buttered souffle dish dusted with bread crumbs

"Oh, s*#^!" Chris swore, pointing out the eggs he had started to beat without first separating them. Luckily, the neighbor had an extra egg and we started over. "You're supposed to whisk the yolks in one at a time," he chided, as Amy was half-way through mixing six egg yolks into her bechamel all at once. Another oops. We were pretty sure this souffle was going to flop. Literally.

Bechamel sauce

Egg yolks

Egg whites

We kept checking it as it cooked, looking through the oven glass, willing it to rise. And it did! We ended up with a gorgeously fluffy, cheesy, nicely browned cloud of cheese, mistakes and all. It hadn't sunk in on itself, and it stayed puffed up until we cut into it. Served with a side salad and some crusty French bread, it was a refined meal that made us feel pretty fancy about ourselves. Guess souffles aren't so scary after all.

Adding the cheese

Folding in the egg whites

Our souffle actually rose to the occasion!

FYI - French Fridays with Dorie members agree not to post the actual recipes from Around My French Table, which is where this particular recipe can be found.

So fancy and French!