No. 2985

Souffles with Swiss and Parmesan Cheese-in Cases

Souffles en Caisses au Fromage de Gruyere et au Fromage Parmesan

Melt five ounces of butter in a saucepan; to it add seven raw egg-yolks; set the saucepan on the fire, and stir the preparation until it begins to thicken, then put in five ounces of parmesan cheese, and five ounces of Swiss cheese, half a teaspoonful of black pepper, a little salt, a pinch of sugar, and two beaten egg-whites, mixed in after the preparation has lost its first heat. Twenty minutes before serving incorporate five very firmly beaten whites, and use this to fill round buttered cases (Fig. 439) stiffened in the oven; cook the souffles in a slack oven; serve promptly.

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For the Modern Kitchen

An unusual soufflé: there is no flour or béchamel at all, only a yolk-and-butter liaison carrying a large quantity of cheese. That makes the base fragile and the method, rather than the shopping list, the thing to get right.

The hinge: do not scramble the yolksSeven yolks stirred over direct heat with melted butter will curdle in seconds if the pan gets too hot. Work over the lowest possible flame or in a bowl set over barely simmering water, stirring constantly, and pull it off the moment it thickens to the consistency of a loose custard.
"Slack oven"A slack or slow oven in period usage is generally taken as roughly 300-325F, though the book gives no figure. With no starch to stabilise it, this mixture sets gently; a hot oven would puff it violently and then collapse it.
The two additions of whiteTwo beaten whites go in once the base has cooled from its first heat, to loosen it; five firmly beaten whites are folded in only twenty minutes before serving, then baked at once. The instruction is a timing, not a resting period -- the soufflés go straight from folding to oven to table.
The cheeses"Fromage de Gruyere" here is Swiss-style Gruyère, not modern packaged Swiss slices; buy a real aged Gruyère and Parmigiano-Reggiano, and grate both finely so they melt into the base rather than sitting in lumps.
SaltTen ounces of hard grating cheese brings a great deal of salt. Season the base before the whites go in, taste it then, and treat the "little salt" as a small pinch at most.
CaissesThe round cases stiffened in the oven are paper cases, buttered and dried so they hold their shape before filling; without that step they slump. Buttered 4 oz ramekins are the straightforward substitute.
WeightsFive ounces of butter is 10 tablespoons; five ounces of grated Parmesan is roughly 1 3/4 cups loosely packed, and the same weight of Gruyère about 1 1/4 cups. Weigh rather than measure by volume if you can.
Yield and serviceThe recipe gives no yield; the quantities would plausibly fill eight to ten small cases. "Serve promptly" is the recipe's own instruction: these fall quickly once out of the oven, so plate them at the oven door.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York for over thirty years, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially the house repertoire written down, numbered recipe by numbered recipe. Cheese souffles baked in individual caisses belonged to the savoury end of a long menu -- served as an entremets or a small hot course rather than as a main dish -- and the paper case, stiffened in the oven and brought to the table as its own vessel, suited restaurant service. The flourless base is worth noting: many nineteenth-century souffle formulas start from a panada or a bechamel, and building instead on yolks, butter and a very large proportion of grated cheese gives a richer, looser result that depends entirely on the beaten whites for lift.