Basic Soufflé Recipe

I have a particular fondness for foods that are (relatively) easy to cook, but appear to most people as difficult and fancy. The soufflé belongs at the head of this category. Everyone seems terrified of soufflés. Fact is: the soufflé can be forgiving and easy to adapt to your needs. Below I've provided ingredients for a 2, 3 or 4-egg soufflé. Here's a perfect rule of thumb: 1 egg per person/serving. If you are cooking for 3 people, make a 3-egg soufflé! I have a pretty nice Krab soufflé recipe in my cooking pages, with more to follow.

Ingredients (2 egg)

2 eggs (white and yolks seperated)
1/2 cups milk
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup cheese
1/8 tsp creme of tartar (optional)

Ingredients (3 egg)

3 eggs (white and yolks seperated)
3/4 cups milk
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp butter
1 1/4 cup cheese
1/8 tsp creme of tartar (optional)

Ingredients (4 egg)

4 eggs (white and yolks seperated)
1 cups milk
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cup cheese
1/4 tsp creme of tartar (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350°
Butter and flour a large baking dish.
Prepare your basic roux. (Ie. melt butter in a pan, add flour and cook—whisking constantly—until it just begins to turn a light brown color.)
Heat milk (in microwave) until hot, but not boiling.
Add a small amount of roux into the milk and mix, then add the milk mixture back into the roux. Surprise! You now have the basic foundation to a simple white-sauce.
Reduce heat. Whisk a small amount of this hot sauce mixture into the egg yolks, then add the yolks back into the sauce, whisking well.
Warning #1: Once you have mixed in the egg yolk, you must be very carefull to keep the overall mixture at a low temperature! Otherwise the egg yolks will temper and your sause will either have a mottled texture or the consistency of a mysterious plastic petrolium product. Reduce heat to the lowest setting and keep the sause only warm enough to continue melting cheesese or other items.
Slowly add cheese and mix until it is melted into the sauce. Surprise! You now have a basic cheese sauce!
Warning #2: Before the next step (beating the egg whites) it is worthwhile to note how important it is that you didn't accidentally get any egg yolk into the whites. SERIOUSLY! A couple drops of the yellow stuff with screw your egg whites badly. If you accidentally get a drop of a broken yolk into the whites, carefully and surgically remove it with a spoon. Consider the egg yolk to be KRYPTONITE at this stage!
Now use a mixer at medium or high speed to beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until they are "stiff but not dry". (Once they peak, they're done. If you don't stop immediately they'll resemble a merange.)
Add 1/4 of the egg white to the sauce and mix.
FOLD the sauce into the egg whites. FOLD does not mean mix! This is important: you just barely mix the two together. It is perfectly okay that you see bits of white. The mixture does not need to be homogenous.
Place mixture in baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes.
Serve IMMEDIATELY. When souffles cool, they begin to collapse. Don't worry, it's perfectly normal. ALL crepes start to fall the moment they are pulled out of the over. If you serve immediately though, nobody will notice.

It is REALLY easy to modify this recipe. All you need for a souffle is some sort of sauce mixed with beaten egg-white. It can be a cheese sauce, chocolate sauce, peanut-butter sauce, fruit sauce, tomato sauce... anything. During the folding phase you can also add solid ingredients like mushrooms, sausage, pieces of fruit, etc. The souffle makes a perfect leftover-casserole.