A Tale of Two Soufflés - Soufflé Au Fromage

 "I did make you a soufflé, but it was too beautiful to live.” - Clara Oswald, “Asylum of the Daleks” Doctor Who

Why make a soufflé? Why make two soufflés? They are notoriously temperamental, and I have never made one before. Julia Child called them the "epitome and triumph of French cookery." Master those, and you can conquer the world. 

As per a previous blog post, when it comes to a recipe rooted in classical French cuisine, I have discovered that it's best to first consult Julia before Pinterest. I have a feeling this may be my first attempt at what I assume will be many. I will start with probably the most basic of basic: soufflé au fromage or cheese soufflé. 

When I think of soufflés, the first reference that comes to mind is Clara from Doctor Who played by Jenna Coleman. The impossible girl who is obsessed with the impossible recipe. When we meet her in “Asylum of the Daleks,” she's baking a soufflé for what we can assume is the hundredth time while trapped in her space ship. She then burns it and throws it away to start again. Later, we learn she was turned into a Dalek a year before. Baking soufflés had been her mind’s way of couping. 

All soufflés, sweet and savory, follow the same general method.  Make a sauce, whip the egg whites into stiff peaks, and gently fold together before baking. That sounds simple, but as we know, anything can go wrong. 

The sauce starts as all cream-based sauces do, by making a roux (mixing melted butter with flour in a saucepan) and adding milk. This one called for hot milk, and I know better than to mess with the recipe. Goes well, but I had to add some more milk as prolonged cooking time due to the milk boiling before the butter melted caused some of the liquid to evaporate. 

Next, I added the individually cracked egg yolks that I separated beforehand to avoid making a mistake while cooking because we all know that happens. Each yolk was dropped in one by one while I whisked the sauce in between. Once seasoned, it was time to tackle the egg whites.

Using my stand mixer (have I told you how much I like my stand mixer), I whisk the egg whites. It takes quite some time to beat them to where they have the right consistency. Mastering the Art of French Cooking has a whole section on properly beating egg whites. To me, it just sounds dirty. You beat the egg whites at 2 strokes per second.  "Egg whites will not mount stiffly if they contain any particles of egg yolk."

Stiff peaks. *giggle*

One note that was not in the recipe, but in the technique section, was that soufflés require a lip made around the pan with foil. Thankfully, I read the whole recipe multiple times before starting. I wanted to be ready. 

Once I folded the egg whites into the sauce as gently as I could, I added the swiss gruyère cheese. Soufflé so far so good. I put the dish in the oven and hope this goes well.

What was the importance of the soufflé to Clara in Doctor Who? It was her mother’s signature dish, and Clara had tried to master it since she died. She mentions soufflés quite frequently throughout the series, even when we meet her as a human in later episodes. She would ruin one and then make another. I suppose the lesson is to keep going. 

But how can she be a human when I just said she was a Dalek, you ask. For those of you not familiar with Doctor Who, I’ll explain. In “Asylum of the Daleks,” she uses the fact that she is tapped into the Dalek network to save everyone before dying. But that was not the real Clara. In the Christmas episode, she appears as a Victorian governess who later dies. In the next episode, “The Bells of Saint John”, she is introduced for the third time, but as herself in modern-day London and officially becomes his companion. This is why she is impossible. In the season finale, the Doctor's timeline is attacked by the Great Intelligence causing all of the good he had done to be erased. In order to save him and the universe, Clara jumps into the Doctor’s time stream creating copies of herself to save the Doctor throughout time and space.

I tried explaining this to J, but it got too confusing.  Perhaps I shouldn’t mention the part about the War Doctor.

While the soufflé was in the oven, I had to see if it was rising like it should. The book said to "not open the oven until after 20 minutes" so, I waited. When It was time, I pulled it out, and to my surprise, it was not too bad. Not as tall as it should be, but still tasty. I think I will try this again for the next brunch I host. 

Next time...