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Spinach SouffléSpinach Soufflé
August 3, 2021 | Updated March 28, 2022 | Laura Ehlers
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✽ Recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I | Julia Child ✽
Julia Child Recipe 183 | 343 recipes to go!
✽ Spinach Soufflé [Soufflé aux Épinards], p. 165
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✽ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961. You can buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I which contains these recipes here. (affiliate link)
The purpose of this Julia Child section of my blog is to document my journey of learning how to cook. To show my successes, my failures, and what I learned along the way.
Since I didn't create these recipes (if only!), I do not post exact amounts of ingredients or word-for-word instructions. If any of these recipes spark your interest, I highly recommend you buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (affiliate link). It's a great investment and learning tool and contains hundreds of classic recipes.
What you will find on my blog is:
✽ Butter Count & Cost Total
✽ Recipe Rating
✽ Answers to Questions that I had while Cooking
✽ Fun Facts about the Recipe or an Ingredient Used
✽ The Recipe Process
✽ Step-by-Step and Final Photos of Recipe
I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts, learn something new, and leave inspired to try a new recipe. Bon appetit!
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Butter Count and Cost: Spinach Soufflé
✽ Butter Count: +3.8 TB
✽ Cost: $5.51 [~$1.38 per serving]
Check out the total Julia Child butter count & cost here!
→ Looking for a different Julia Child recipe? Here's a list of all of the completed and pending Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipes!
This spinach souffle left me feeling deflated.
We are moving right along into the second soufflé! Check out the first soufflé I made. It was a Swiss and Parmesan cheese soufflé and delicious. That classic recipe came out of the oven looking like an absolute beauty.
I was worried this might be beginner's luck to get such a beautiful soufflé on my first try.. I may have been right. The cheese one stayed puffy for so long that I was able to snap all the pics. The spinach one.. not so much.
It rose, but it deflated almost immediately after taking it out of the oven. Perhaps, it's something that I did to the egg whites or the baking time, or maybe my spinach soufflé was just destined to fall fast. That's okay. It still tasted great.
Soufflé aux Épinards Rating
✽ Laura's Rating: 7
✽ Brian's Rating: 7
This soufflé tasted really good, but if I'm being honest, its taste didn't differ that much to me from the previous cheese soufflé. I do think the spinach added some substance that the cheese one was missing. I imagine this spinach souffle would be really good with a glass of white wine, a side salad, and a piece of crusty French bread.
However, after removing all the stems of the spinach, washing it, blanching it, chopping it, and sautèing it, I think I'll reach for the cheese soufflé recipe next time if I'm in a hurry. My husband, on the other hand, is a huge spinach dip lover and this soufflé was right up his alley.
Spinach Souffle Recipe: Questions
✽ What is a soufflé?
A soufflé is an egg dish that can be either savory or sweet. Soufflé comes from the French word, souffler, which means "to blow" or "to puff."
The base of a soufflé consists of making a béchamel sauce- a roux (flour + fat cooked together to thicken sauces) mixed with boiling milk. Egg yolks are then added to form a cream sauce. Egg whites are then beaten to stiff peaks and folded into the base. During the cooking process, a soufflé will puff up and will fall about ten minutes after being taken out of the heat.
There are many different types of soufflés including cheese, vegetable, fish, and bacon/ham. Sweet soufflés can be made with chocolate or fruits.
✽ Why do soufflés get puffy in the oven?
It all has to do with the egg whites.
When you beat egg whites, you introduce air into them and break the chemical bonds. The egg white proteins uncoil, aggregate together, and form a network that allows the air bubbles to stay in place. This process is called coagulation, and this causes the foam to form.
When these air bubbles are heated in the oven, the gas inside them expands causing the soufflé to get puffy. The heat also stiffens the proteins allowing the soufflè to stay risen even when taken out of the oven.
✽ Why do soufflés fall?
When the egg whites are over-beaten, the proteins become overstretched and unstable causing a premature collapse. Ah, perhaps I may have beaten my egg whites a tad too long for this spinach souffle! Also it's very important to gently fold egg whites into your base.
The baking time of a soufflé can also play a role, and it's kind of tricky. An under-baked soufflé will collapse because there is still too much moisture inside. An over-baked soufflé will collapse while still in the oven.
Though, keep in mind that even properly baked soufflés will deflate some at room temperature. That's why it is important not to open the oven door while baking because you don't want any of the heat to escape!
Looking for more Julia Child savory soufflés?
→ Check out all of the entree and luncheon dish recipes that I've completed so far!
Fun Souffle Facts
✽ Where did souffles originate?
Soufflés originated in France in the early eighteenth century. Vincent La Chapelle was the first to write about soufflés in Le Cuisine Modern in 1742. By the mid-1800s, soufflés were common.
✽ The Most Expensive Souffle
The most expensive soufflé sold for $2500 in 2016. It was prepared by Richard Farnabe and Alexandre Petrossian in New York, NY. The inside contained quail eggs and caviar. It was topped with gold leaf and flambé Hennessey Richard.
✽ The Biggest Souffle
The biggest soufflé weighed 3891 pounds and was 243 feet long!
How to Make Spinach Soufflé
✽ Step 1: Prepare the Mold
The first step involves preparing the 6-cup mold. Butter and cheese cover the souffle dish in order to get the perfect crust.
✽ Step 2: Blanch Spinach & Cook Shallots
To get the amount of cooked spinach we need, you gotta have A LOT of fresh spinach. And then each of those spinach leaves needs their stem torn off. It's a process. Not a hard process, but it does take time.
The leaves get washed, blanched, and chopped. Along with some butter and shallot, the chopped spinach mixture cooks over medium-high heat so that all of the moisture is evaporated. You don't want a soggy soufflé!
✽ Step 3: Make Soufflé Sauce Base
The first step in making the base, is preparing a roux (white sauce) with butter and white flour which will help thicken it all up. Hot milk, seasonings, and egg yolks are whisked in to get you this gorgeous sauce. Seasoning corrected and spinach added in, we are moving on!
✽ Step 4: Fold in Egg Whites & Bake Souffle
Now to get the fluff- whisk those egg whites with a wire whip! About halfway through this process, I always regret not using the electric mixer. Oh well, it's good to get your heartbeat up, right?
A little bit of the whipped egg whites get stirred into the soufflé mixture to lighten it and the cheese too. The rest of the egg whites are folded in carefully, it's all put into the prepared mold, and the top is sprinkled with grated cheese. After cooking, hopefully you end up with a beautiful puffy soufflè!
*This blog, Laura The Gastronaut, and this post were/are not endorsed or supported by Julia Child or The Julia Child Foundation.
Category: Julia Child, Entrèes & Luncheon Cuisine: French
Keywords: spinach souffle, julia child souffle, spinach souffle recipe julia child, spinach souffle recipe
✽ Did you make this recipe too?
→ Let me know by leaving a comment below and sharing on Instagram. Tag @laurathegastronaut and hashtag it #laurathegastronaut.
More Entree and Luncheon Dish Recipes:
✽ Cheese Souffle (a delicious souffle variation made with grated parmesan and swiss)
✽ Spinach Quiche (another great spinach and egg recipe)
✽ Rapee Morvandelle (a delicious potato dish)
→ Check out all of the completed Julia Child entree and luncheon dish recipes!
✽ You can find this recipe and all the other Julia Child recipes I make in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I (affiliate link). Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.
✽ Check out my Julia Child Recipe Checklist to see a list of all my completed and pending recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking!
Bon appétit!
August 3, 2021 by Laura Ehlers
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