Tried and tested: how to make the perfect cheese soufflé

Meneer Wateetons can keep it short: deep-frying is the best cooking technique on earth. And we completely agree, because what could be better than a homemade cheese soufflé, fresh from the fryer? In his book Over frituren you’ll find even more snack recipes alongside the cheese soufflé; both savoury and sweet!

Meneer Wateetons: “I love my daughter dearly, but she couldn’t swim to save her life. Many a bored tweet was sent and dog-eared Panorama magazines devoured under the fluorescent lights of the swimming-pool cafeteria. My only consolation: the weekly cheese soufflé. By the time she was halfway through her A diploma, I didn’t even have to ask for one anymore. At the sound of my shuffling footsteps, the cafeteria employee and deep-frying supervisor had already thrown the yellow disc of joy into the oil and uncorked the Diet Coke. We were watching our weight back then too, of course.

The cheese soufflé is one of the oldest snacks we know, and a Dutch invention. Snack-bar owner Hans van Bemmel came up with it in 1969 together with a local baker. The requirements we have for a cheese soufflé in the Wateetons household—or the cafeteria—are simple: crisp on the outside, a lightly greasy coating and, inside, cheese that melts beautifully, doesn’t solidify again too quickly and burns your mouth just right. I’m a simple man; even my masochistic fetishes are bourgeois. The first two turn out to be simple: puff pastry and a breadcrumb coating held together with a little egg wash. Both are available at any supermarket. The cheese, on the other hand, is trickier.

The food-blogger method: a slice of ordinary young Gouda. It stretches into lovely strands, but solidifies too quickly and lacks both flow and flavour. Processed cheese: the piquant combination of scorching heat and complete liquidity irreparably blistered my daughter’s little chin. The chef’s method: a cheese sauce based on béchamel, with good melting qualities, but too little remaining cheese flavour due to dilution. In the end, after many tests, a mix of finely grated cheese blended with processed cheese proved to be a new partnership approaching perfection.”

How to make the cheese soufflé

• Take the puff pastry out of the freezer and let it thaw, but work with it as cold as possible.
• Grate the cheese as finely as you can. Preferably don’t use pre-grated cheese; it is too coarse and melts less well.
• Mix the grated cheese with the processed cheese until homogeneous.
• Cover your work surface with plastic wrap, baking paper or a little flour to prevent sticking, and roll out one sheet of puff pastry slightly; 10–20% is enough.
• Place 25 grams of the cheese mixture to the right of the centre, in a rectangle. Do this neatly so that the layer of cheese is approximately the same thickness everywhere.
• Fold it closed and trim the irregular edges until you have a neat shape.
• Use the tines of a fork to press the edges together firmly. Suddenly, the folded sheet of puff pastry transforms before your eyes into a cheese soufflé.
• Let your bare cheese soufflé firm up again in the fridge or freezer while you prepare two plates: one with a beaten egg and one with a generous amount of breadcrumbs. The softer your dough, the harder it is for the cheese soufflé to keep its shape. This is also the time to heat your deep fryer to 175 degrees.
• Coat your cheese soufflés in the beaten egg, then in the breadcrumbs.
• Deep-fry for approximately 3 minutes.
• Serve immediately and enjoy your burnt mouth.

Title: Over frituren
Author: Meneer Wateetons
Price: €32,-
Publisher: Fontaine Uitgevers

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• Say cheese: people who eat cheese live longer
• Science proves it: cheese is highly addictive