Cassell's dictionary of cookery

I will describe how to make as small a one as possible, as it is easy to increase the size, and experiments are always most economical on a small scale. Take a i-ound tin about four inches in diameter, and quite three deep. Have a piece of ornamented white paper ready to pop round the tin quickly. Next take two table-spoonfuls of finely-grated cheese — of course a dry cheese gi'ates the best — and place it in a basin with a quarter of a pint (half a tumbler) of milk, about half a salt-spoonful of salt, and a quarter of that quantity of pepper. Next break a couple of eggs, keeping the whites separate from the yolks in a small basin. Mix up the yolks with the milk, cheese, &c., thoroughly. Now take these two whites, and whip them up into a stifi" froth, and then mix in quickly the milk, kc. Butter the inside of the tin, and put it ra the oven till it is very hot. Pour the mixture into the tin quickly, and place it in the oven. The oven must be of moderate heat, othei'wise the souffle gets burnt outside and remains pappy in the middle. The average time of baking is about twenty -five minutes to half-an-hour. The soufll6, Avhich when placed in the tin did not half fill it, will rise up a couple of inches above the tin. Everything, howevei', PRINCI PLES FRYING. depends upon its being served quickly. Probably the souffle, if it is two inches above the edge of the tin when it leaves the oven, will sink nearly level with the top before it reaches the table. This cannot be helped, but everything that saves time must be thought of beforehand. For instance, some people delay to pin a dinnei-- napkin round the tin. Of course the best plan is to have a silver-plated souffle-case, and then there is no occasion for any delay. These, however, are rare. Have a piece of clean white ornamented paper with a frill ready, and kt there be plenty of room. Now the souffle very often bulges out at the top, and there is no room to put the paper over the tin. Don't let this, however, put you out. Drop the tin into the round pa])er, which should not be higher than the edge of the tin ; but whatever you do, or however you do it, be quick ; have a hot cover ready to pop on, and run with it to the dinner-table. The next point to consider is. Why did the souffle rise 1 Because of the airbubbles. It is easy to whisk the whites of eggs into- a foam, but not the yolks. By separating the whites, therefore, and beating them up separately, we increased our number of air-bubbles to an enormous extent. These bubbles expand with the heat, hence the lightness of the souffle. On the other hand, as the souffle cools, the bubbles contract, the souffle goes down, and a cold souffle would be as heavy as a hot one is light. Now the principle is the thing to grasp. For instance, in making a cake, you want, of course, to make it light; therefore i-emember the souffle— i.e., beat the whites up separate from the yolks. This will have the effect of considerably lightening the cake, though, of course, as the process of baking a large cake is slower than that of baking a souffle, the cake would not rise in anything like the same proportion.