Curds, Soufflés and Putting It Together
Cooking Skills: Eggs 2
Chapter 9 · Curds, Soufflés and Putting It Together
Skill goal
Make a risen, rich egg dish, and plan a whole menu around your best egg recipes.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
This chapter pulls together everything from the last eight: thickening with yolks (curd), whisking whites for lift (soufflé), and baking a custard-based pudding. A soufflé has a reputation for being difficult, but it's just a thick sauce with egg yolks, folded with whisked whites. If you can make a white sauce and a meringue, you can make a soufflé.
- Curd is a yolk-thickened fruit mixture. It's cooked gently, stirred constantly, like a custard, and the acid in the fruit makes it tangy.
- A soufflé base is a thick white sauce (roux plus milk) with yolks and flavouring beaten in. It should be strongly flavoured, because the whites dilute it.
- The whites are whisked to firm (not dry) peaks, then one spoonful is beaten into the base to loosen it, and the rest is folded in gently.
- Fold, don't stir: cut down through the middle with a large metal spoon, scoop round the side and turn over. Stop when you can only just see streaks.
- Dish prep: grease the dish with butter in upward strokes and coat with Parmesan or sugar. This gives the mixture something to climb.
- Bake and serve at once. A soufflé starts to fall within minutes of leaving the oven. The guests wait for the soufflé, never the other way round.
Try it
Level 1 · Start here
Lemon curd
Gentle stirring thickens the yolks with butter and lemon. This one uses the bowl-over-water method, so it's hard to scramble.
Ingredients (10 portions)
- 2 unwaxed lemons (zest and juice)
- 100 g caster sugar
- 50 g butter, cubed
- 2 medium eggs
- 1 medium egg yolk
- Put the lemon zest and juice, sugar and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring until the butter has melted.
- Beat the eggs and the yolk together, then strain through a sieve into the bowl.
- Stir constantly for 10 to 12 minutes, until the curd coats the back of a spoon. It will thicken more as it cools.
- Pour into a clean jar, cover and cool. Keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Use it
Spread on toast, spoon into the lemon meringue pots in chapter 6, swirl through yoghurt, or fill a sponge.
Level 3 · Classic
Cheese soufflé
The famous one. A strong-flavoured cheese sauce lightened with whisked whites.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 30 g butter, plus extra for the dish
- 2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan, for the dish
- 30 g plain flour
- 250 ml semi-skimmed milk
- 80 g mature Cheddar, grated
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 3 medium egg yolks
- 4 medium egg whites
- Pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg
- Heat the oven to 180°C fan (200°C conventional, gas 6), with a baking tray on the middle shelf. Butter a 1.2 litre soufflé dish in upward strokes and coat with the Parmesan.
- Melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring, until you have a thick, smooth sauce. Simmer for 2 minutes.
- Off the heat, beat in the cheese, mustard and seasoning, then the yolks one at a time. Cool for 5 minutes.
- Whisk the whites to firm peaks, until they hold their shape but aren't dry and grainy. Beat a spoonful into the cheese base to loosen it.
- Fold in the rest in two goes, gently. Pour into the dish and run your thumb round the inside rim to make a channel, which helps the soufflé rise straight.
- Put on the hot tray and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until risen and golden with a slight wobble. Don't open the door before 20 minutes. Serve at once.
Get ahead
The cheese base (steps 1 to 3) can be made up to 3 hours in advance with a layer of cling film on top. Whisk the whites and fold at the last minute.
Level 3 · Pudding
Lemon surprise pudding
A lighter, easier cousin of the soufflé. The whisked whites rise into a sponge layer on top while a tangy lemon custard sauce forms underneath: the 'surprise'.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 50 g butter, softened, plus extra for the dish
- 100 g caster sugar
- 2 lemons (zest and juice)
- 3 medium eggs, separated
- 50 g self-raising flour
- 300 ml semi-skimmed milk
- Heat the oven to 160°C fan (180°C conventional, gas 4). Butter a 1.2 litre ovenproof dish and boil the kettle.
- Beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest until pale. Beat in the yolks one at a time, then the flour, lemon juice and milk. It will look curdled: that's normal.
- Whisk the whites to stiff peaks and fold into the lemon mixture.
- Pour into the dish, stand it in a roasting tin and pour in hot water to halfway up the side.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden and springy. Serve warm.
Putting it together: an egg supper for four
Pick the dishes you enjoyed most and plan a whole meal around them. This one uses a lot of what you have learned: a starter salad with a mayonnaise dressing, a soufflé and a dessert with meringue and curd. Most of it can be done in advance, and the soufflé is the only dish that has to go straight to the table.
| Menu | From | Make ahead? |
|---|---|---|
| Starter: Caesar-style salad | Chapter 7 | Dressing and croutons the day before. Dress the leaves at the last minute |
| Main: cheese soufflé with a green salad | Chapter 9 | Base up to 3 hours before. Whites and baking at the last minute |
| Pudding: mini pavlovas with lemon curd and berries | Chapters 6 and 9 | Meringue and curd 1 to 2 days before. Assemble at the last minute |
Timing plan
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| The day before | Make the lemon curd and the meringue nests. Keep the nests in an airtight tin. Make the Caesar dressing and croutons. |
| 3 hours before | Make the soufflé base, cover its surface with cling film, and leave it at room temperature. Wash and tear the salad leaves. |
| 45 minutes before | Set the table. Take the soufflé base off to rest. Heat the oven with the tray inside. Prepare the dish. |
| 20 minutes before | Dress and serve the starter. |
| While the starter is eaten | Whisk the whites, fold, fill the dish and put it in the oven. Set a timer for 25 minutes. |
| At the table | Serve the soufflé the moment it comes out. Dress the green salad. |
| Pudding | Spoon a little curd into each nest, add berries and yoghurt, and serve. |
Plan backwards
Write the time you want to eat and work back. The soufflé goes in the oven 30 minutes before the main course. Put that on a sticky note and write the others around it.
Experiments
Experiment
Oven door closed or opened
Learn why soufflé advice says 'don't peek'.
- Make the cheese soufflé mixture in two ramekins, with the same mixture in each.
- Bake both at the same temperature. Open the oven door for a few seconds after 10 minutes on one, and keep the other shut.
Look for: The door-opened soufflé is likely to have risen less or have a collapsed, uneven top. The cold air and the draught affect the delicate foam. This is a safe experiment: nothing is lost except a bit of height.
Experiment
Whisk by hand or electric
Is the whisking machine worth it?
- Whisk two lots of 2 egg whites, one with a hand whisk and one with an electric whisk, to firm peaks. Time each.
- Fold each into half the cheese base and bake in a ramekin.
Look for: The electric whisk is quicker and the foam is finer. The hand-whisked one is slightly less voluminous, but still rises. Hand-whisking in a copper bowl is the old way.
Experiment
Your own house menu
Pull your favourites together.
- Look back through your tasting notes for both Eggs courses. Choose your best starter, main, and pudding.
- Write a timing plan like the one above, work backwards from the time you want to eat and cook it for someone.
Look for: What you can do ahead, and what must be last. Use the table below to record it.
Your egg skills
| Skill | Where to practise | Confident? |
|---|---|---|
| Boiling, frying, scrambling, poaching | Eggs 1, chapters 2 to 5 | |
| Omelettes, baked eggs, frittata | Eggs 1, chapters 6 to 8 | |
| Batters and pancakes | Eggs 2, chapter 1 | |
| Stirred and baked custards | Eggs 2, chapters 2 and 3 | |
| Quiche and savoury custards | Eggs 2, chapter 4 | |
| Baking with eggs | Eggs 2, chapter 5 | |
| Meringue | Eggs 2, chapter 6 | |
| Mayonnaise and emulsions | Eggs 2, chapter 7 | |
| Hollandaise | Eggs 2, chapter 8 | |
| Curds and soufflés | Eggs 2, chapter 9 |
Tasting notes
| Item | Method | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lemon curd | ||||
| Cheese soufflé | ||||
| Lemon surprise pudding | ||||
| Door open vs closed | ||||
| Hand vs electric whisk | ||||
| My house menu |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Soufflé sank | Door opened early, underbaked, or over-folded | Keep the door shut, bake until golden and don't over-mix |
| Soufflé didn't rise | Whites not whipped enough, or base too hot or stiff | Whisk to firm peaks, cool the base and loosen it first |
| Soufflé rose but is raw in the middle | Oven too hot, or too short | Lower the temperature slightly, and bake 5 minutes longer |
| Grainy whites | Overwhisked | Whisk to firm, not dry peaks. Add another white and whisk briefly if overdone |
| Lemon curd scrambled | Heat too high | Use a bowl over simmering water, strain, and stir constantly |
| Thin lemon curd | Not cooked long enough | Keep stirring over the heat until it coats the spoon |
| Lemon pudding has no sauce | Not baked in water, or overbaked | Use a water bath and take it out while the top is still springy |
Food safety: curds and soufflés
Cook lemon curd until it coats a spoon and keep it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks in a clean jar. A soufflé should be cooked until risen and set; a soufflé that is still liquid in the middle isn't safe for vulnerable guests. Serve within 2 hours of cooking, and throw away leftovers if they have been out all evening.
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can make a lemon curd that coats a spoon without scrambling.
- I can make a white-sauce soufflé base, whisk whites and fold them in.
- I know why you don't open the oven door early.
- I can plan a multi-course meal backwards from the time of serving.
- I have written down my favourite egg dishes and what I would change.
What comes next
Cooking Skills continues with courses on rice, pasta, potatoes and knife skills. There will also be beginner courses on bread, ice cream and chocolate. Your egg skills carry across all of them: custards lead to ice cream, and meringue and batters lead to baking.