Few dishes betray inexperience more than a souffle, which is held by the average cook as the ne plus ultra of "high class cookery," and the cordon bleu capable of turning out what she is pretty certain to term a "souffel," in good condition, feels perfectly entitled henceforth to describe herself as "a cook, experienced," and to demand wages accordingly.

Yet, in truth, granted a little care and good will, a souffle, whether baked or steamed, is no very recondite preparation. The point to observe is the due proportions, which are as follows: For a meat or fish souffle you must reckon a full gill of thick sauce (or rather liquid panade) to every three or four eggs used; the meat or fish giving the dish its distinctive character, minced as fine and pounded as smooth as possible, being added in the proportion of rather more than an ounce of the puree to each egg, i.e., for the yolks of three and the whites of four eggs you would need a full gill of sauce or panade, and 3½oz to 4oz. of the meat puree, The method is simple enough. Begin with the panade by stirring together over the fire an ounce each of butter and fine sifted flour, till these are perfectly amalgamated, when you dilute them with a gill of water, milk, or good stock (this varies according to the meat used, as brown or espagnole sauce for brown meat or game; veloute, or bechamel for chicken or any white meat; or fish stock for fish), let this cook over the fire very gently (being careful not to let it colour if for white meat), for eight or ten minutes, to insure the flour being perfectly cooked; then stir in the minced or pounded meat (using your judgment as to whether you add 3½oz. or 4oz., according to its solidity) with seasoning and flavouring to taste, and lastly the yolks separately, stirring one well in before adding in the next; and lastly stir in quickly and lightly the whites of the eggs whisked to a very stiff froth, and at once pour it all into the papered souffle tin or case, and set it in a sharp, but not fierce oven; as though this must be hot enough to raise the souffle quickly, it must not be so hot as to darken the surface too rapidly at first; in fact, after a few minutes the heat may be slightly slackened.

The quantities given will require about half an hour's cooking. The mixture rises enormously in the cooking, therefore the case (whether tin, china, or paper, and about 5in. across, and 4in. deep) should not be more than half full to start with, and should have a band of well-buttered, stiffish paper (projecting fully 2in. above the edge of the case), firmly tied or fastened round it to prevent the contents of the mould running over and wasting. (See Fig. 12 of papered mould.) If preferred the above mixture may be cooked in small paper or china cases instead of one large one, and will take from twelve to fifteen minutes to cook.

A matter deserving attention is the buttering of the paper band, and the souffle case, especially if the souffle is to be steamed instead of baked. A good coating of butter should be actually spread, not merely lightly rubbed (as some cookery books advise) on the band and the case, or else the souffle will not turn out neatly, or if baked will be ragged when the band is removed.

All souffle's are made in the above fashion, their distinction depending on their seasoning (which must always be delicate), and the appropriateness of the liquid used in making the panade. For instance, in souffle a la bourgeoise, for which cold roast beef or mutton may be taken, the gravy of the meat may be used, or failing this, water strengthened with a little Worcester, Harvey, or anchovy sauce, and at the last a little wine, may be substituted; if game is to be the foundation, "perfume" a little ordinary bone stock with the broken up bones and trimmings of the game, a few drops of wine, etc., as you choose; for white meat, a delicately flavoured white sauce may be employed; while for fish souffle's I have known careful housewives use the milk in which a Finnan haddock had been cooked for breakfast, to dilute the panade; or the remains of last night's melted butter or oyster sauce were utilised. In fact souffle's once mastered, form a dainty and invaluable method of using up all sorts of scraps that would otherwise be wasted, and for that reason should really form an important part of the succeeding chapter on rechauffes.

However, for gala use, the meat should always be raw, and if possible sieved after pounding, though for ordinary household use this rather troublesome process may be omitted; but any way care must be bestowed on the smoothness of the pounding.

Mousses differ from souffles by their lightness, as for the above proportions four egg yolks should be used, and a good spoonful or two of stiffly whipped cream should replace one of the egg whites. In fact many chefs replace the egg whites entirely by stiffly whipped cream, but though this gives a delicious and delicate lightness to the dish, it results in so soft a mixture as to demand great experience and deftness in the cookery. Mousses arte always turned out, in fact many people hold that the turning out of a souffle transforms it into a mousse, but the real difference is in the greater lightness of the latter. Mousses, like souffles, may be served in small portions instead of one whole dish, and make delicious entrees; in such cases they are frequently called zephyres, from their fragility. Cooks often, when experienced in preparing these dishes, omit a portion of the pulped meat, replacing it by tiny dice of any flavouring meat to taste, adding these in at the last with the whipped cream.

But if this is done, the meat or substance so added must always have been previously cooked; for instance little cubes of foie gras may be added at the last thus and impart a most delicate flavour to a mousse of chicken or game; in fact are infinitely to be preferred to the use of bottled truffles, which never seem to preserve their aroma as they do when imbedded in pate. If truffles are used (and they should always be fresh ones) they should be added thus at the last, the trimmings having been utilised in the making of the panade. (If one may be pardoned a digression, it would be well could one impress on both mistress and cook that bottled truffles are seldom if ever satisfactory, for they do not bottle well, and unless of very first rate preparation have little of their distinctive fragrance left after a month or two's bottling. A jar of pate de foie gras truffe imparts fully more flavour and is not at all more expensive than the bottle of truffles). In cooking souffles and mousses it must be borne in mind that if baked, the oven door must be very carefully handled when opened to inspect the dish, for if opened too soon, or worse still if banged, the souffle is all but certain to be spoiled by the shock; if it, or a mousse, is steamed, the lid must not be lifted more than once at the most.