h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I made a cheese soufflé this evening. Well, threw it together really, using up old bits of cheese and some of the eggs left from the quiches I made for the rest of the office for my birthday. It was absolutely amazing. The most beautiful fluffy soufflé. It rose beautifully and was fluffy throughout. It was a lovely colour and we had it with some salad and some garlic bread which made the perfect meal.

There. That's enough patting myself on the back for now.

When I saw the subject line in my More Postings list I figured this had to be a 2legs conversation

I will make a soufflé... one day

I've never made one either! and, I thought also when I saw the title, that it hasd to be a 2legs journal entry. err. which is even more daft now I think about it, for me to have thought that. I've n exuss though... my thinking is just so rubbish now

Follow TC's method. They only work if thrown together. Recipes are a snare and a delusion

A cheese and corn souffle .

Now I have to make one.

Without using a recipe, this is what I did:

Separate 4 eggs
Whip up the whites till absolutely stiff (you can add salt and pepper, but I didn't - the cheese was pungent enough)

Grate or roughly chop all the end bits of cheese left in the fridge, according to consistency. The smellier the better.

Grease souffle dish or cake tin. Actually, I'm not sure you're supposed to do this, because of the egg whites not liking fat, but I did it anyway.

Melt a knob of marge, add a spoonful of flour (level dessertspoon max. - I've had white sauces go far too thick from using a heaped spoonful). Persist with a whisk so no lumps can form. Season (I use an all purpose vegetable stock powder.)

Add a good coffee mug full of milk , a bit at a time, letting it thicken and come to the boil after each addition, as you do. Don't stop whisking.

When it thickens for the last time, remove the whisk (change to a spoon) and drop in the cheese. Stir till the cheese has melted.

Mix the cheese sauce, the egg yolks and the stiff egg whites (you CAN use the electric hand mixer for this, but not for too long. Continue with the wooden spoon or spatula - but if you can't be bothered, it doesn't matter if some bits are whiter and others are yellower)

Pour the lot into the soufflé/cake tin and bake in quite a hot oven for 20 mins. For the final 10 mins you can chuck the garlic bread in with it.

I was surprised that 20 mins was enough, but it was cooked right through and had risen to twice the height, and was just the right colour brown on the top, so

Voilà.

I think I saw a TV chef making a soufflé from odd bits of cheese left over in the fridge recently. Or at least talking about it. There's one thing you're both confusing me with though - it's the 'bits of cheese left over'. That never happens at Castle Gosho

Ah well, if you're going to buy some speshly, this was a little bit of leftover Swiss gruyère and some smelly, runny, Alsatian brie.

yeh... the 'left over cheese' thing confused me too

I'm really, really have to make a soufflé soon . Your directions sound good.

We are great cheese-eaters, but my excuse is that we had visitors over recently and offered a cheese board, and haven't managed to finish what wasn't eaten, because we rather over-did it.

No. no. no! I refuse to accept that it is possible to 'overdo it' when it comes to cheese! its..... no... its just not possible! OK... so I'm a bit obsessed by cheese perhaps... but...

I think you're normal about cheese. But be careful. You are what you eat.....

Maybe you can wrap your heads around "cheese that has not yet been devoured" a bit easier

Sorry, my head doesn't wrap very well.

Fortunately, it will never have to go under a .

"cheese that has not yet been devoured" is what's for supper. Not sure where you're going with that, Amy, nor how it's going to end up anywhere except on a cream cracker

But once cheese *has* been devoured, it's too late for anyone but the one who devoured it to get any.

I meant, of course, "cheese that has not yet been devoured" as an alternative phrasing to "leftover cheese", which is anathema

I keep a packet of grated cheese on hand to sprinkle on chili or minestrone of pasta fazool.