Julia's Cheese Souffle

i believe someone, maybe even Julia herself, said...

"A FALLEN SOUFFLE IS NOT A FAILED SOUFFLE..."

 well, i must say...i have proven this to be incorrect...
taste?...not so good, but okay...
looks?...complete failure...

i must preface this post by saying that i made the attempt at Julia's Souffle a few months ago.  it was my first attempt at a souffle and it literally kicked my butt!...i have since made another souffle with complete success...will post about the FABULOUS SOUFFLE asap
 i didn't want to post about this one because it was such a failure in puffy delicate souffle terms...but i think it's necessary to show the failures to put us in our place, but better yet....to make our successes stand out even better...when something turns out perfect  people should stand up and cheer...there should be a national souffle day...or a big banner outside the house...big party...big something!....

(this is how my post read right after i made Julia's souffle)
just look at my poor little souffle....i'll bet you wouldn't even know it was a souffle if i wasn't calling it that. trust me...it IS a souffle. don't get me wrong here, i wasn't trying to be creative and take license with Julia's recipe...i wouldn't do that. i know i like to change things up by adding this or that to a lot of recipes i try, BUT for this one i went by the book. Julia's book...Volume ONE. i'm just glad that i read somewhere that a fallen souffle is not a failed souffle...because BOY did this one fall.

i followed the instructions to the T, even down to the straight-pin collars. Julia suggests using straight pins to hold it together so i dug around in the sewing room and found the darn pins...i wanted everything to be just right. i was so proud of my little collared ramekins.

i carefully prepped everything. mise en place at the ready. i think the rule is that when any recipe calls for folding in whipped egg whites you should be well prepared. time is of the essence. i had both of Julia's books out on the counter - "The Way To Cook" and "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking Volume One".  no room for error, or so i thought.  everything came together just fine. the instructions are precise and easy to understand.  i thought i was on top of everything...checking and rechecking the step by step recipe...no help from my sous chef aka the peanut gallery.  i was totally ready to take the credit for my wonderful souffle, but also fully aware that i would also be the one to blame for failure.

the photo above is one of the only shots i could salvage of the souffle still above the rim of the ramekin.  i wish i would have had a video of my 15 seconds of souffle fame.  i swear, the second the collar came off this thing just sank.  i had the camera set up t o shoot the finished product right out of the oven because i read that they usually fall within 5-10 min. i thought i had a little window of time there to get at least one decent shot of the real deal....NOT ! as fast as i could push the shutter release it was falling, falling falling...FALLEN.
right when they came out of the oven the souffles were up near the top of the collar...a good 2 inches from the rim of the ramekins, but as you can see in the photo below they quickly sank to 2 inches below the rim of the ramekin...

so...long story short.  yes, i ate them.  yes, they were OKAY, but did not resemble any souffle i had ever tasted, seen or ever imagined.  they were more like an over cooked cheesy omelet...and not a very good one at that.  will i try this again?...YES!

the souffle will not win !!!


stay tuned for the Perfect Souffle...