Perfect Souffle Is Possible

The American Dairy Association offers the following tips for making a perfect souffle: Read the recipe carefully before you begin. Organize the ingredients and the equipment you’ll need.

Butter your souffle dish and dust it very carefully with sugar.

If the unbaked souffle comes to within 1/2 inch of the top of the dish, add a collar. Use a triple thickness of aluminum foil to fasten a 4-inch-wide band that will go around the dish and overlap 2 inches. Butter the band and dust with sugar. Wrap the collar around the dish, sugared side in, with the edge of the collar extending at least 2 inches beyond the top of the dish. After baking, remove the collar.

The best souffle goes into the oven immediately. However, you can refrigerate an unbaked souffle, covered, in the dish, for up to two hours.

Once the souffle is in the oven, don’t peek. Nothing depuffs a baking souffle like a blast of cold air.

When is the souffle done? At the end of the cooking time, gently move the oven rack. If the souffle jiggles in the center, return it to the oven for a few minutes. If you must let the souffle stand in the oven, do so, with the heat off, for no more than 10 minutes.