Tag Archives: cheese

Make a cheese souffle at home

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Cheese souffle just out of the oven

Cheese souffle just out of the oven

Cheese souffle is the kind of thing many home cooks are afraid to make because they think it’s difficult.  It’s really not.  You need to practice once or twice in terms of technique, which is the part you need to pay attention to since there are not all that many ingredients in a basic cheese souffle — the one I suggest, since it’s wonderful and doesn’t need to be loaded up with all manner of nonsense.

This will serve 4 with some bread and maybe sliced heirloom tomatoes, though my family could probably polish two of these off in nothing flat.

Use good cheese and organic whole milk and eggs.  This recipe is simple and relies on quality ingredients.  If you use crappy, mass-produced cheese product you won’t wind up with a deeply-flavored, rich, complex souffle.

This is a good dish if you want to show off, though I stopped doing that about 20 years ago.  I wound up bombing when I tried to show off and, since I’m no longer trying to lure a boyfriend into my web, there’s no real need.  I figure my family and friends know the deal with me and it’s all good, fallen souffles, broken oyster stews and all.

Cheese Souffle
   Serves 4

6-cup souffle dish, or other casserole, with high, smooth interior
Whisk
High-heat spatula
Stand mixer or balloon whisk and large, copper-lined mixing bowl

2-1/2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons AP flour
1 cup whole milk
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch white pepper
Pinch salt
4 egg yolks
5 egg whites
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shredded cheese (Gruyere, Cheddar, a mix, whatever you like)

For prepping souffle dish:
1 tablespoon soft butter
1/2 cup panko (course breadcrumbs)

1).  Prep souffle dish by buttering the inside, being careful to catch the whole surface.
2).  Toss in panko, and turn dish this way and that, so the panko sticks to the butter and there is panko on the entire surface.  This will allow the souffle to climb up the side of the dish.  Set aside.
3).  Make a thick bechamel sauce, like so:  microwave the milk for 1 minute and set aside; melt the butter in a saute pan and add the flour; combine with spatula and stir over low heat for a minute — stirring constantly.  You don’t want any color, which should result in a roux blanc, or white roux.  Whisk in all of the milk quickly; add the seasoning pinches; cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for a minute or so.  When you have a thick white sauce, which is what a bechamel is, take it off the heat.  Note:  if you use cold milk you’ll get lumps.  You have been warned.
4).  Separate the egg whites from the yolks by hand, so you don’t lose half the whites — which you will if you use the shells.  Make sure you have absolutely no yolk in your whites!  You should have one little bowl of 5 whites and one with 4 intact yolks. Wrap up the extra yolk for some other use.
5).  Place the whites and the salt into your mixing bowl and whip at high speed until you have serious peaks.  At this point you should pre-heat your oven to 400 deg. F.
6).  Whisk the egg yolks into your white sauce.
7).  With your spatula, cut out a nice chunk of the egg whites and gently whisk it into your now-yellow sauce to lighten it up.
8).  Fold the cheese into the sauce with your spatula.
9).  Fold the rest of the egg white into your sauce — carefully.  It’s OK to transfer the sauce to the mixing bowl with the whites, assuming you used a small saucepan for the white sauce.
10).  Place batter into prepped souffle dish using spatula, but don’t disturb the sides.
11).  Place on center rack of oven and turn it down to 375 deg. F.
12).  Cook for 30 minutes and then test with a skewer, which should come out relatively clean.  You need to work quickly.  If too soft for your taste, put back in the oven for 5 minutes.
13).  Separate the top with a fork and spoon and serve ASAP, as it will deflate in only a few moments!

Ingredients for cheese souffle

Ingredients for cheese souffle

Making roux blanc for cheese souffle

Making roux blanc for cheese souffle

Bechamel for cheese souffle done

Bechamel for cheese souffle done

Bechamel with egg yolks whisked in

Bechamel with egg yolks whisked in

Whipped egg whites and salt - testing for peaks

Whipped egg whites and salt – testing for peaks

Sauce lightened with some whipped egg white and now adding the cheese

Sauce lightened with some whipped egg white and now adding the cheese (I used a spatula to mix the cheese in – not the whisk shown)

Cheese souffle ready for the oven (I sprinkled a little extra cheese on the top)

Cheese souffle ready for the oven (I sprinkled a little extra cheese on the top)

Cheese souffle is done

Cheese souffle is done

Gres des Vosges at my Costco

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125 gram box of gres des vosges cheese on black background

You normally don’t find 125 gram packages of any food item at Costco.  Well, maybe caviar.

I was very happy to come across this wonderful little fern frond-topped cheese — essentially a pasteurized milk version of Alsatian Munster — at the Richmond (CA) branch.

The real deal — meaning raw milk Alsatian Munster — is illegal to import/sell in the US unless it has been aged 60 days or more, in which case it would be dead.

This is a soft cow’s milk cheese with a washed rind.  Earthy, yeasty, pungent and a little fruity, it’s quite funky when very ripe, which I always appreciate.  Life’s a bore without a little stank, and I felt the presence of this baby in the cheese case even though it was situated next to some overripe teleme that had all but run out of its package.

Have it with some bread, fruit and a spicy white or dessert wine.

Red Hawk cheese

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Cowgirl Creamery's Red Hawk cheese

Cowgirl Creamery’s Red Hawk cheese

Not too long ago I parted company with $17 at Berkeley Bowl West for a 10-inch round of Cowgirl Creamery’s funky, pinkish Red Hawk.  I buy this every once in awhile because it’s not only pricey, but incredibly rich.  It’s a triple-cream cheese with a brine-washed rind that’s aged 4 weeks.  It’s a bit soft when young, but becomes very soft and then runny when ripe.  When very ripe, it’s got some serious stank going on – and I mean that in the best way possible.  Spread on a crusty Acme sourdough roll with some raspberry preserves – you’re home.

Cowgirl Creamery has been putting out some excellent cheeses since 1997.  They’re local (Point Reyes Station & Petaluma), and use local organic milk, so I like to give them business when my wallet allows me to.

Their most popular cheese may be Mt. Tam, a firm, buttery and earthy triple-cream, and it is good, but I can’t stay away from the lush and plush Red Hawk.

All their cheeses are award-winning.  Have a look at their website before you pick some up so you know what you’re getting, but there’s no way you can go seriously wrong.

There’s a Cowgirl Creamery in the SF Ferry Building (One Embarcadero, San Francisco), which will allow you to purchase bread at The Acme Bread Company down the hall at the same time.  Certain Bay Area markets, like Whole Foods and Berkeley Bowl, usually have a decent selection, but Red Hawk can sometimes be hard to come by.

The Cheeseboard Collective (1504 Shattuck, Berkeley) is a place I’ve seen Cowgirl Creamery products, but I usually go there to be educated about some cheese I’ve never heard of.  This is not only a great cheese shop, but it’s connected to the birth of California cuisine (think Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, which is across the street.)  If you go to the Cheeseboard you can pick up some fabulous bread and olives, too, as well as a spectacular cheese roll, which you can eat on the way home.

Savory oatmeal

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This may not be the most attractive dish to photograph, but it’s tasty.

While I love hot breakfast cereals, I am not always fond of having them sweet, so I came up with this savory version a few years ago just to have some variety.  I know it may seem a little odd to some, but try to think of it like congee (aka jook), the Asian rice porridge cooked with everything from pork meatballs to tripe.

I make this in a Wolfgang Puck electric wok I bought from HSN.  I kid you not – this thing is great when you need constant heat that travels the whole way up the sides of a sloped vessel and a non-stick surface that allows you to work smoothly with a heat-proof spatula.  Normally I shun non-stick, but this is an exception because it prevents major oatmeal stickage.

What I give you here is my basic recipe, but you can fool around with it.  This will make enough for 5 or 6 people, give or take.

Ham & Cheese Oatmeal

4 cups thick-cut oatmeal (not instant – the slowest cooking kind you can get)
1 quart chicken stock
2 cups milk
2 cups water
2 cups finely cubed cooked ham
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 – 2 cups aged (or extra sharp) white Cheddar cheese in small cubes
1/2 tsp. white pepper

1)  Add oatmeal and all liquids to heavy guage dutch oven or similar vessel and stir to combine
2)  Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer
3)  Cover and cook to desired consistency, stirring often, especially when the mass starts to thicken (I cook for 20 minutes when using the really thick oats)
4)  Stir in pepper, ham and butter and allow to cook for another 30 seconds
5)  Remove from heat and stir in cheese, but do not mix it in too much because you want to wind up with pockets of melted cheese
6)  Cover and allow to sit for a couple of minutes
7)  Serve in deep bowls under a couple of over-easy eggs, if you want to be fancy about it

Tried a couple cheeses

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Bavarian Blue and Delice D’Argental

Although I buy most of my cheese at Costco (my Costco has an amazing selection of cheeses) and Trader Joe’s, where the prices are low and you can buy small amounts, which you cannot do at Costco, I’ll pick up cheese that calls out to me from places like The Cheese Board or Berkeley Bowl, and just grin and bear the cost in the name of doing right by local non-chain merchants.

Berkeley Bowl West has a nice cheese counter, so I purchased a piece of Bavarian Blue (marked “Bavarian Blue Brie” on the store label) for my mother, and a small cut of Brebirousse D’Argental, because it looked creamy and runny and had a nice funky smell through the plastic.  It also had an orange rind.

Bavarian Blue is mild and creamy, being made with cow’s milk with added cream.  It’s not nearly as rich as triple-creams like Castello or Cambozola, nor strong like Stilton, so it’s good for people who want a hit of blue cheese flavor in a soft texture.

I have not had Brebirousse D’Argental before.  This is a washed rind sheep’s milk cheese from the Lyon region of France that ripens soft and runny.  Even though it’s made from pasteurized milk, which can render cheese somewhat limp in the character department, it retains flavor that is on the musty side of funky, though  it is not what I would call “sheepy” at all.  It has a little tang, and eats like a cheese with more fat content.  Brebirousse D’Argental has a 50% fat content, while a triple cream, like Saint Andre, is 75% butterfat.

There is nothing like having a little good cheese with bread, fruit and wine for dinner.  I still see too many Americans buying crappy cheese.  Just eat less of it but buy a higher-quality product and it won’t cost you mush more.

Note that if you want to purchase cheese in large quantity from Costco – which is something on the order of two pounds, depending upon the cheese – it’s not a problem to keep it fresh for some time, particularly hard cheeses, provided you follow these rules:

1)  Cut what you need from a larger piece and put the remainder in the fridge ASAP
2)  Use fresh plastic wrap EACH TIME you rewrap the cheese
3)  When you wrap/rewrap the cheese, CATER wrap it, meaning use several layers by just winding it around the product a few times; this will keep it from drying out and will prevent your cheese from smelling like the meatballs you have on the next shelf

Some may think this use of wrap is wasteful, but it makes a big difference.  It is a must for soft, runny cheeses, which have a shorter shelf-life than hard cheese, and it keeps things sanitary and pleasing.  Although most resources say that soft cheeses, like brie, will last about two weeks, I’ve been able to do much better than that by caring for them as outlined above, and by using the vegetable bin.

Hard cheese can last for months.