Brie chardonnay souffle (my first ever!)

I've been thinking a lot about souffle, always feeling intimidated by the game of beating and folding in egg white. Perhaps it's because I've never seen it done before, souffle seemed totally unimaginable. Peter Barham's "The Science of Cooking" makes it sound all the more like a trick of magician chefs. But then one day Brie was on sale in one of our neighborhood gourmet grocery store. Sales of 30-40% off are always irresistible to me. Coming home with a wedge of Brie, I found myself searching busily on the web for instructions on making cheese souffle. This time, a recipe alone wouldn't do much good. I needed some videos! After I see how it is done, the recipe is up to my imaginations.

Recipe: Brie chardonnay souffle (for 2)

Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoon (TB) chardonnay (white wine)
- 2 egg yolks
- about 1.5 oz brie, shredded
- 0.5 oz reduced fat mozzarella, shredded
- 2 TB cornstarch
- white of two eggs
- a few drops of lemon juice
- a little butter and grated parmesan to coat the souffle cups

Procedure:
1. Grease two 3" souffle cups with butter, then coat with a thin layer of grated parmesan. Place in fridge until used.
2. Mix chardonnay with egg yolks and heat on med-low until it blends together smoothly. Then add Brie and mozzarella into the mixture. Adjust heat (turn it up gently) and stir well to allow the cheeses to melt and blend in. When the mixture is smooth turn heat down, add in the cornstarch in batches to thicken. This step may take some time.
3. Preheat oven to 400F or 450F. Preheating before making the egg white is very important, because once the egg white is beaten, the souffle has to be baked at once.
4. Place egg white and a few drops of lemon juice in a big round bottom mug. Use an electric egg beater to beat, first with the lowest setting to blend. When foams are formed, increase the speed progressively to maximum. Stop when the foam stands firm. Takes about 5 minutes.
5. Gently mix 1/3 of the cheese mixture with about 1/6 beaten egg white (double the volume of the cheese mixture). Once it's mixed, add the remaining cheese mixture in 2 batch. After each batch, fold half the egg white. Once the two are mixed together, scoop the mixture into the souffle cups.
6. Place the souffle cups on a pan and place in oven immediately. Bake at 375F for 15-20 minutes.

Results and observations:

1. This is my first time making souffle, and I have no idea how it's supposed to taste or smell when done. So it's quite a blind experiment. However, I am really happy that the souffle actually rises to a very impressive shape after 15 minutes. It shrinks back though, 15 minutes after coming out of the oven.
   
2. When mixing the cheese, I have quite a tough time controlling the consistency of the mixture. Basically, I just do not know what to look for. At the end, my mixture is somewhat lumpy, and tastes rather starchy (before baking). But the starch taste disappears after baking. I think because the starch has turned into bread. It was assuring when I read Peter Barham's book again, to discover that the very thick starchy lumpy texture is what I'm supposed to get when the cheese cools down into droplets that are wrapped up by starch.
   
3. I think I've used too much cornstarch. The souffle has a spongy texture, almost like a mix between cake and bread. I am not sure what exactly a souffle should taste and feel like. So there is nothing to compare with.
4. Coating the souffle cups with butter and parmesan really does wonder to allow the souffle to rise.
5. In this recipe, a good white wine really matters because the taste of it is rather noticeable in the souffle.
   
6. My food critic says it tastes like a loaf of egg. I think I've used one egg too many. So use only one egg next time.

On the whole, I am really happy about the outcome of this first attempt. It works! Perhaps the satisfaction is more on conquering fear than on getting the souffle right. Now my future experiments will be to make it work better.