Potato soufflé
The best, and little known, secret about soufflé is that it is actually quite straightforward. It doesn’t take long to put together and then it’s all up to fate on whether it rises or not while cooking. The only remaining challenge is to get everyone seated around the table to admire the fruit of your labor before it collapses.
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- Potatoes 1 kg (2 lbs)
- Cream or half-and-half ¾ cup, see Note below
- Parmesan cheese grated, ½ cup
- Salt 1 tsp.
- Nutmeg ¼ tsp.
- Pepper
- Eggs 3, separated
Instructions
- Peel, dice and cook potatoes until tender. About 20-25 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Mash the potatoes until as smooth as you have time and patience for.
- Beat in cream or half-and-half a bit at a time. Stir in cheese, salt, nutmeg and egg yolks.
- Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff.
- Take the biggest, flattest spoon that you own. Tip the bowl of stiffened whites into the potato-cream-yolk mash. Fold in the whites.
- Pour everything together into an ungreased soufflé dish or, as noted above, a baking dish.
- Cook about 45 minutes until beautifully browned and wonderfully puffed.
Notes
If you serve it as a main dish include a side salad and consider an accompanying dessert, like Tarte Tatin. It would also make a very complimentary side dish for a roast or baked fish. Mrs. Crocker doesn’t include an accompanying wine as that’s not very American, but she does suggest that green Jello with pineapple chunks would go well on the side (true for pretty much all American dishes, by the way).
Cream or half-and-half: Half and half is an American invention of a 50/50 mixture of milk and full cream that has the added advantage of instantly easing the conscience. It is often therefore offered for use in coffee. Useful to know: if you follow up your half-and-half with 2 rounded teaspoons of sugar or a side of donuts, you might as well have just used straight cream in the first place.