Bake and Create: Soup-fflé
Aka French onion soufflé
After making the soufflandwich last week, I couldn’t help myself – I had to make a soup-fflé.
I wondered at first if it made any sense. After all, soup is a thick liquid, and soufflé is a light and airy solid. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that they actually have a bit in common (and make a fun pun!).
One soup in particular, French onion soup, had just enough similarities with soufflé to convince me it was worth a try: both are characterized by an oven-finish that creates a risen or boiled over look, and comté/gruyère are integral for flavor.
Because of my extensive deep dive into soufflés (see the bottom of the recipe for links to the entire series), there were only a couple of tweaks to be made. Last week’s soufflé recipe focused on adding morsels of flavor, and I can think of few morsels that pack as much punch as sweet-savory-rich caramelized onions. From there, the only other (new) tweak was to the béchamel: swapping some of the milk for homemade beef stock, and adding a splash of sherry, a little beef bouillon, and some herbs. This deeply flavorful, beefy béchamel tastes just like a concentrated French onion soup.
Upon taking the tureens spilling over with soup-fflé from the oven, I knew that the whole cheese-crusted-dish-vibe of French onion soup was really coming alive, and after the first spoonful, I knew that my initial hunch was right; it was indeed meant to be.
P.S. A lot of French onion soup dishes are already oven-safe, but always check the individual make/model before baking.
P.P.S. This soup-fflé will likely spill over (nearly all of mine did). My theory is that as the onions retain some moisture, they create steam and make the soufflé base less sturdy. Thus, when it rises, it will also slide around and slip over the edge. There’s nothing you can really do about it (I tried), so just enjoy that this soup-fflé mimics how a normal French onion soup bubbles over the edges.
Makes 4 6oz soufflés
