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Spinach Souffle
4 tablespoons shortening 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper 3 tablespoons flour 1 cup milk 3 eggs 1/2 cup cheese (grated) 1 tablespoon onion juice 1 cup cooked spinach Melt shortening, add seasonings, flour and milk and stir until thick. Beat eggs slightly and add slowly to the above mixture. Add grated cheese and onion juice. Grease baking dish in which place alternate layers of spinach and sauce. Bake in a moderate oven for 35 minutes (375 degrees). Serves 6.
A cheese-and-spinach bake in the style of the 1930s, where "soufflé" often meant a custard-bound vegetable dish rather than something risen on beaten whites. Expect a firm, sliceable gratin, not a puffed one.
- Eggs go in off the heatThe white sauce is thick and hot; the eggs are only beaten slightly and added slowly. Pull the pan from the burner first and pour in a thin stream while whisking, or you will get threads of scrambled egg through the custard.
- The temperature is givenThe oven figure is stated: 375F. Bake 35 minutes, until the centre is set and no longer wobbles as a liquid when the dish is nudged.
- ShorteningIn 1930s usage this means a solid vegetable fat such as hydrogenated shortening or lard, used interchangeably with butter for a roux. Butter is the better choice here for flavour, in the same quantity.
- Cooked spinachOne cup cooked means well drained. Squeeze it hard in a towel or the water will thin the custard and pool in the dish. Roughly 1 lb fresh, or a 10 oz block of frozen leaf spinach, thawed and pressed.
- Onion juiceA period shortcut for onion flavour without texture: grate an onion and press the pulp through a sieve, or grate on a microplane and use the resulting slurry. A tablespoon is the yield of about half a small onion.
- CheeseUnspecified, which in an American book of this date most likely means a firm yellow cheddar-type cheese. Half a cup grated is about 2 oz.
- AssemblyThe recipe layers spinach and sauce rather than folding them together. If you would rather have it uniform, stir the spinach into the sauce, but a shallow dish holding two or three thin layers bakes most evenly.
- ServingSix as a side dish, or four as a light main with bread and a salad. Let it stand five minutes before cutting so the custard firms.