grated cheese for a savory one The butter supposedly helps the soufflé mix slide up the side as it expands, while the particles give the mix something to cling to as it climbs Contradictory claims, and not true! Soufflés made in unbuttered or uncrumbed dishes rise just as high The butter simply makes the soufflé surface easier to detach from the dish, and sugar, breadcrumbs, and cheese make a nice crunchy, brown crust for the otherwise soft interior Once put in its dish, a reasonably stiff soufflé mix can be held for several hours in the refrigerator before the foam deteriorates It will keep indefinitely in the freezer Cooking Soufflés Baking soufflés is not a perilous enterprise Put a room-temperature soufflé mix in a hot oven and it will rise Don’t worry about opening the oven door The mix can’t fall unless it actually begins to cool down, and even if that did happen, it will rise again when it heats up again Most soufflés are placed directly on a rack or baking sheet in the oven, but small individual soufflés are often light enough that they can be blasted halfway out of their dish by the steam generated at the oven-hot dish bottom, so the dish ends up half empty A baking pan filled with water, or individual foil cups of water on a baking sheet, will moderate the bottom temperature and keep a small soufflé in its dish A soufflé’s appearance and consistency are strongly affected by the oven temperature At temperatures above 400ºF/200ºC, the mix rises the fastest, and the surface can brown while the interior is still moist and creamy At 325 to 350ºF/160 to 180ºC, the rising is more modest, and surface browning coincides with a firming of the interior A slow oven may coagulate the surfaces so gradually that the expanding mix spills out of its dish rather than rising vertically Doneness can be ... A soufflé’s appearance and consistency are strongly affected by the oven temperature At temperatures above 400ºF/200ºC, the mix rises the fastest, and the surface can brown while the interior is still moist and creamy... 325 to 350ºF/160 to 180ºC, the rising is more modest, and surface browning coincides with a firming of the interior A slow oven may coagulate the surfaces so gradually that the expanding mix spills out of its dish rather... Most soufflés are placed directly on a rack or baking sheet in the oven, but small individual soufflés are often light enough that they can be blasted halfway out of their dish by the steam generated at the oven-hot dish