For krissywats: egg white souffle recipe

[Carb Lover]

Hey krissywats and all you cooks w/ an accumulation of egg whites in the freezer, Julia Child's egg white souffle is really great! Of course not as decadent as a true full egg souffle, but very satisfying nevertheless. Like eating a savory, cheesy marshmallow. When I made it months ago (seen below), I increased the recipe a bit so I could use my 8" springform pan since I don't have a souffle dish. Since I don't really like Swiss cheese, I think I used something like gruyere or ementhaler and used all grated, no diced.

Without further ado, here's the paraphrased recipe for you to play with. From Mastering the Art of French Cooking V. 1 p. 173:

Souffle Aux Blancs D'Oeufs
(Cheese souffle w/ egg whites only)
Serves 4

Grated cheese and butter for prepping souffle dish

2.5 TB butter
3 TB flour
3/4 c. simmering light cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Big pinch nutmeg

6-7 egg whites (3/4-7/8 cup)
Big pinch salt
3/4 c. (3 oz.) coarsely grated Swiss cheese
3/4 c. (3 oz.) Swiss cheese cut into 1/4" dice

Preheat oven to 400F. Generously butter 6-cup souffle dish and coat evenly w/ grated cheese (I like parmesan). In saucepan over low-med heat, melt butter and then stir in flour. Cook for about 2 min. making sure it doesn't brown. Off heat, add simmering cream and seasonings. Bring to boil and stir for 1 min. Take off heat.

Beat egg whites and salt til stiff peaks. Stir one fourth into cream base. Stir in all but a TB of grated cheese. Then add diced cheese. Gently fold in remaining whites.

Pour mixture into prepared souffle dish, sprinkle w/ reserved grated cheese. Set in middle of oven and immediately reduce heat to 375F. Bake for 25-30 min. til souffle has puffed and browned. Don't open oven door for at least 20-25 min. unless you smell something burning! Serve at once!

Image: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/...

[krissywats]

This looks GREAT! I don't have a souffle dish either - you had no problems with the springform?

Thanks so much. I'll try this as soon as I'm home next week.

[Carb Lover]

Springform worked fine since the batter is fairly stiff, but like I said, I increased the recipe a tad. In past souffle threads, hounds have said that many pan types work for souffles. You could use ramekins, loaf pan, cake pan, whatever...maybe not bundt pan though.

After typing up the recipe, I realized that the only thing light about it was the egg whites. Of course, the result is light as a cloud...Hope you like it!

[saltwind]

I was making eggnog creme brule today for New Years and had left over egg whites but not all the other ingredients in the recipe. So I used shredded old cheddar for the cheese, no grated cheese in the dish prep and blend instead of cream. Cooked it in a simple square casserole dish. It was great! Thanks for the info!