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Souffle, Ramequins
Melt an ounce of butter; mix it into a table-spoonful of flour and a little salt; stir for a few minutes over the fire. Have ready boiled half a pint of milk and a quarter of a pint of cream. Pour this on the butter and flour by degrees, and work it perfectly smooth. Take the pan off the fire and add half a pound of grated Parmesan cheese, a little pepper, a pinch of sugar, the yolks of eight eggs and the whites of two, well beaten. When well mixed add the remaining six whites, beaten to a stiff froth. The dish should then be about the consistency of cream. Fill paper cases, not quite to the top and bake in a slow oven for eighteen minutes.
A cheese soufflé in cases — what the book calls ramequins — built on a thin béchamel rather than the stiff panade of later recipes. The batter is deliberately loose, and the whites are what hold it up.
- The hingeTake the pan off the fire before the whites go in; the base should be barely warm, not hot, or the whites will slacken on contact. The recipe's "consistency of cream" describes the finished mixture after the six whites are folded in. Fold in thirds with a spatula and stop while streaks are still faintly visible.
- "A slow oven" is misleading hereA slow oven is usually reckoned at around 300-325F, which is unlikely to give much lift in small paper cases in eighteen minutes. Individual soufflés of this size are normally baked at 375-400F for 15-18 minutes, until risen and set at the edge with a slight tremble at the centre.
- Paper casesThese were stiff pleated paper cups. Buttered ramekins of 4-5 fl oz work much the same; fill them not quite to the top, as directed, and set them on a baking sheet for easy handling.
- MeasuresHalf a pint of milk and a quarter pint of cream are Imperial: 10 fl oz and 5 fl oz, so about 1 1/4 cups and 2/3 cup. A tablespoon of flour to an ounce of butter gives a very loose roux, which is intentional.
- Half a pound of ParmesanEight ounces of grated Parmesan against 15 fl oz of liquid is a very high proportion by modern taste. Four to five ounces gives a pronounced cheese flavour without the mixture turning grainy or oversalted; add salt only at the end.
- The eggsEight yolks with two of the whites go into the base; the remaining six whites are whipped separately. Eggs of the period were generally smaller than today's large eggs, so six or seven yolks may be closer to the intended volume.
- Yield and servingEnough for eight to ten small ramekins. Soufflés collapse within a few minutes of leaving the oven, so bake them when the table is ready rather than the reverse.
"Ramequin" (also ramakin) entered English cookery from French in the early eighteenth century and originally meant a small savoury cheese preparation — a toasted cheese case or a baked cheese custard — before it came to mean the little dish such a thing is baked in. Parmesan was a common grating cheese in English savoury cookery of the period, imported hard and keeping well, which is why it appears here in a quantity that would have been extravagant in fresh cheese.