Day 18. A Spontaneous Soufflé!
HOME– I am standing around in my kitchen, wondering what the devil to make for dinner, and {gulp} what in the world I am going to blog about tonight, when deep in my head, an off-pitch, shrill woman’s voice reverberates off my temples, “Make a souffle! Why not? What have you got to lose?”
I do have the ingredients. Eggs, Gruyere, Parmesan, Milk. And so I will, Julia. And so I do.
I’m going to whip up my first cheese soufflé! I pull out my copper saucier and a pint of cold whole milk. I melt butter in one pan and steam milk in another. This is what cooking is all about! A spontaneous soufflé!
I love nights like this, when you get to pull out the KitchenAid mixer and separate a half dozen eggs. I am in another world, hovering just above the floor. Ahhh, and when the oven starts to bake the eggs, even the aroma seems classically trained.
And who knew??! Who knew it could be this easy? I’ve waited a LOT of years to go here. And this year, I wrote it on my chalk boards, right under “Sew something and wear it- ha!” So at some point, I had to do it.
I carefully follow the recipe- a revised version of Julia Child’s classic dish with frothy egg whites folded into buttery egg yolks laced with shaved Gruyere and feathery Parmesan.
Julia’s classic cheese soufflé can be found in The Way to Cook, but this one is a slightly altered, yet easily accessible version from www.epicurious.com. Because I wasn’t the one to adapt it, I won’t print the recipe here. However, it’s just a click away, if you’re interested.
Sixty seconds after I took this photo, my airy creation started to slowly cave into a yellow slump. Nonetheless, I feel triumphant! It tastes good; it melts on my tongue– Magnifique!
I underline another dream down in chalk, and float upstairs, to sleep.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I just finished reading Julia Child’s My Life In France and could almost hear her voice telling you what you should do. Her story was inspirational, as was your souffle. Makes me want to try one myself — my one and only attempt at that was years ago and it turned out just fine, so I’ll keep you posted on my next souffle adventure.
November 19th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Souffles are supposed to deflate… you can’t eat them till they do. Congrats on the success. As far as “sew something and wear it” goes. Does knitting count? I knitted (and I do not knit) a cap for myself a few Thanksgivings ago, during a cold and sleet filled afternoon of cabin fever in Yosemite. I still wear that cap regularly! Another knock out post, by the quickly becoming particularly (nearly) favorite blog of mine. GREG
November 20th, 2009 at 8:55 am
@SippitySup– this made me laugh out loud– I had no idea they were supposed to deflate! I was just happy to get a quick photo in before it happened. I have to say, this whole Gruyere/egg combo is gooood stuff. I found myself noshing on it again last night as an appetizer. I can’t wait to make the next one.
And YES, knitting counts! I can’t believe you did this and you didn’t know how to knit. I’d call that “Spontaneous Knitting!” And thank you so much for your kind words- you blog so often and in much more detail, that you know better than I what this takes. Whew! My store-bought cap is off to you, Sir Sup!
November 20th, 2009 at 11:07 am
i love spontaneous cooking nights. so freeing and fun, don’t you think? well, my dear, your first cheese souffle looks like a tremendous success! bravo!
November 21st, 2009 at 5:49 am
I love the spontaneity not only in cooking but also in life. I like your to do list on your chalk board. I should make my own list too. Little goals that would lead me to accomplishing bigger goals.
December 1st, 2009 at 5:22 am
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