235 Puff Piece

Cheesy and Fondue celebrate National Cheese Soufflé Day. We talk about the science of the soufflé, the stability of the gougeres, and the awesomeness of the happy accident puff, the Cheeto. And of course, we tell a very cheesy joke!

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Why is cheddar the most dangerous of all the cheeses? Because it is very sharp!

Show Notes

https://nationaltoday.com/national-cheese-souffle-day/

Wikipedia / Soufflé

National Today / National Cheese Soufflé Day May 18

National Day Calendar / National Cheese Soufflé Day

Days of the Year / National Cheese Soufflé Day

196 Flavors / Cheese Soufflé Traditional French Recipe

D'Lightful Dishes / The History and Evolution of Soufflés

Wikipedia / Gougère

Pardon Your French / French Cheese Puffs Gougères

Coucou French Classes / The Entire History of Choux

Wikipedia / Cheese Puffs

Atlas Obscura / A Brief History of the Cheese Curl

Snack History / Cheetos Puffs

Sporked / How Are Cheese Puffs Made

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Just Cheesy the podcastpresented by Just Cheesy Productions.
Hi there. I'm your host, Fondue.
I'm Cheesy.
This week we're celebratingNational Cheese Souffle Day.
Cheese souffle.
We're talking about thescience of the souffle, the stability
of ggougere,oo
what?
and the awesomeness of thehappy accident puff, the Cheeto.

(00:26):
Awesome.
And of course, we're gonnatell a very cheesy joke. Stay tuned
for episode Puff Piece on JustCheesy the podcast.
According to National Today,national day calendar and daysoftheyear.com
National Cheese Souffle Day isMay 18, and we're, of course, doing
a whole puff piece about it.The word souffle comes from the French

(00:50):
verb souffle, which means toblow, breathe, inflate, or puff.
And according to Wikipedia andthe National Day calendar, the earliest
mention of the souffle isattributed to French master cook,
French Francois Masselone. Idon't think I said that correctly.
This was in the early 18th century.
Wow.
But it was Chef Marie AntoineKerme, known as the king of chefs

(01:12):
and the chef of Kings, whoperfected and popularized it in the
1800s.
Holy cow.
And they say here that theovens that Karim used were heated
by air drafts rather than coal.
Really?
And that change was crucial.Consistent, controlled heat from
all sides is what allows asouffle to rise evenly.
It does.
It's kind of hard to believethat a souffle was invented because

(01:33):
someone got a better oven,really. According to the history
site Delightful Dishes, thesouffle was originally a savory dish,
most commonly made withcheese. Sweet souffles came later,
gaining popularity in theVictorian era. And by the 1780s,
according to the National Daycalendar, cheese souffles were appearing
in Parisian restaurants.According to National Today, by the

(01:54):
early mid 20th century, theywere a fixture at elite American
venues, appearing on menus atthe Waldorf Astoria, the Biltmore,
and the Hotel astor. In the1970s, according to the Days of the
Year website, the souffle hitpeak popularity in home cooking.
It did.
Even though National CheeseSouffle Day is celebrated on May
18, no one is entirely surewho created the day. I don't think

(02:17):
it really matters.
Nope.
There's something that makes asouffle extraordinary. There is no
leavening agent, no bakingpowder, no yeast. The only thing
that makes it rise is air andsteam. According to Wikipedia and
multiple culinary sources, asouffle has two components. First,
a flavor base, which istypically a bechamel sauce enriched
with with egg yolks andcheese. The other are egg bites.

(02:40):
They're beaten to stiff peaksand folded gently into the base.
So, basically, eggs and eggs.
Incredible.

(03:37):
When you beat egg bites,you're incorporating millions of
tiny air bubbles into a foamof protein strands. And according
to the French culinary site196 Flavors, when that foam goes
into a hot oven, two thingshappen simultaneously. The air bubbles
expand with the heat. Thewater molecules turn to steam. Now
both of these forces pushoutward against the egg protein,

(03:58):
which set and firm from theheat. So the resolve is a structure
that climbs the walls of theramekin and rises above the rim.
It says here the ramekinitself matters according to 196 Flavors.
Straight vertical sides areessential because they give the rising
mixture a surface to climb.The inside must be perfectly smooth

(04:19):
and properly buttered so thatnothing catches. The base should
be preheated on a hot bakingsheet to give the souffle an immediate
burst of heat from below. Andthe golden rule, they say. According
to multiple sources, includingFrench recipe site in the national
day calendar, you never openthe door during baking. A sudden
drop in temperature causes thesteam to condense and the air to

(04:41):
contract. The structurecollapses. And according to 196 Flavors,
it's not the guests who willwait for the souffle. It's the souffle
that never waits for theguests. According to Wikipedia, after
coming out of the oven, asouffle will generally fall within
five to 10 minutes. You gottabe really fast when you serve a souffle.
No company that makes soufflesis a sponsor, but if they were, their

(05:02):
ad would go right here. Soapparently the type of cheese you
use is important. Not allcheeses work equally well. According
to multiple culinary sources,the most traditional choices are
Gruyere and Comte, both Alpinecheeses with a nutty richness, medium
moisture and excellent melt.According to the national day calendar,
Parmesan, cheddar andprovolone are also popular choices.

(05:25):
They are.
The cheese does a couple ofthings. It flavors the bechamel base
and when used to dust theinside of the buttered ramekin according
to 196 flavors, it creates aslight grip that helps the souffle
climb more easily. Cheeseslike fresh mozzarella and ricotta
are generally avoided becausethey have a lot of extra water and
that interferes with the set.Very sharp aged cheeses can work,

(05:48):
but they need balancing. Getready for the French just obliteration
here.
Why do you do it?
The souffle has a cousin named oGougereh
my
this is a cheese puff thatdoes not ocollapse.h
good
According to Wikipedia, thisoriginates in the Burgundy region
of OFrance.oh
la la
According to the culinaryhistory site C o u C o u French classes.

(06:09):
cCoooo?
The first shoe based gougereappeared in the 19th century. This
possibly originated in Parisbefore becoming a Burgundian specialty.
Okay. Gougeres are made from choux
Shoe?
pastry. And I'm saying choux Ch o U x, not choux like you have
on your foot. We're hardcoreinto the French stuff now.
Yeah.

(06:29):
According to the French recipesite, pardon your French, the mechanism
for the souffle and thegougere is very different.
Okay.
In the gougere, there is nobeaten egg white. Instead, choux
is cooked on the stovetopfirst. Butter, water and flour are
combined and heated untilstarches gelatinize and the mixture
forms a smooth ball. The eggsare beaten in one at a time and the

(06:51):
dough is piped onto a bakingsheet and baked at high heat. Apparently,
the puff and gougere comesfrom steam.
Really?
There's no leavening agent.The pre cooked flour gelatinizes
the starch so they can trapand hold the steam. And that builds
up on the inside of the doughas it bakes. The steam expands, the
starch holds, the puff holdsits sh when it comes out of the oven.

(07:12):
And according to that cuckooFrench classes, just like a souffle,
you must never open the doorduring baking.
Why?
Because, of course, the hotescaping air will cause the puff
to deflate. And the biggestconnection between the souffle in
a Parisian kitchen in 1820, ina gougere served in a cold Burgundian
wine cellar, and a Cheeto madein a factory in Beloit, Wisconsin,

(07:34):
is the same essential idea.
What is it?
It's air. Air incorporatedinto a starchy or protein structure
under heat or pressure.Lightness and texture. I know you
wouldn't think that a souffleand a gougere is related to a Cheeto.
Well, it kind of is.
Really.
According to Wikipedia andAtlas Obscura, the cheese puff was
invented by accident in the1930s. And believe it or not, this

(07:58):
was at a Wisconsin animal feedcompany called Flacall Corporation.
Edward Wilson worked at thecompany and he noticed that when
wet corn was run through a hotflaking machine to clear the clogs,
it came out at the other endin puffy ribbons and they hardened
as they hit the air. They didso, of course, like anybody would.
Wilson took some home. Headded seasoning, tried them and declared

(08:20):
them good. And the companyeventually produced them commercially
as corn curls.
Wow.
So basically, the Cheeto wasinvented by accident while making
cow food. According toWikipedia, Cheetos themselves came
along in 1948. The puffversion arrived in 1971. And according
to snack history, to make asingle year's supply of Cheeto puffs,
Frito Lay needs 11 milliongallons of milk, which converts to

(08:44):
10 million pounds of cheddar cheese.
Holy cow.
Produced by approximately5,000 cows. 5,000 cows every year.
Just for Cheetos Puffs. Thescience, according to multiple manufacturing
sources, is essentially thesame principle as the gougere and
the souffle, but executedindustrially. Cornmeal is mixed with

(09:05):
water into a dough. It'sloaded into a machine called an extruder.
The extruder heats the mixtureunder extreme pressure, and when
the dough exits through ashaped die at the end of the barrel,
the pressure drops. Suddenly,the water inside the dough instant
converts from liquid to steam,and the dough expands and puffs.
The shape of the diedetermines whether you get a curl,

(09:25):
a ball, or a tube. The preseasoned shapes are called colettes.
They're baked or dried,sprayed with vegetable oil, and tumbled
with cheese powder untilthey're evenly coated. This process
is amazing.
Amazing.
According to Sporked, a singleFlamin hot Cheeto puff was once listed
on eBay for $99,000.

(09:46):
Holy cow.
Because a buyer claimed itresembled the late gorilla Harimbe.
But the buyer ultimatelybacked out.
I'm ready for a joke fondue.
Okay, what did the souffle sayto the Cheeto?
I don't know. What?
You're full of hot air. Andthe Cheeto said, I know you are,
but what am I?
It was dumb.
Oh, it was dumb and a littlebit cheesy. Thanks for listening

(10:10):
to Just Cheesy the podcastepisode Puff Peas.
Thank you.
Don't forget to celebratenational cheese souffle on May 18.
If you decide to make asousle, tag us. If it collapses,
tag us anyway. We want to seeit. Find [e-mail] and wherever
you get your podcast.
And stay cheesy, everybody.