Jacques Pépin's Cheese Soufflé Is An Homage To His Mother

We all have a little piece of our mother in us, even world-renowned chefs like Jacques Pépin. In one of his mouth-watering recipes, he reveals just how significant his mother's influence has been on his culinary journey. During the pandemic in 2020, while many of us embraced home cooking or experimented with the newest food trends, the French celebrity chef showcased his mother's quick cheese soufflé recipe on his YouTube cooking channel, "Home Cooking with Jacques Pépin." 

In the ten-minute video, Pépin recounts how his mother taught herself the art of soufflé after discovering that his father enjoyed them. Unfamiliar with the recipe, Jeannette Pépin made a soufflé without separating the egg whites from the yolks (a foundational step in most soufflé recipes), and it worked. Jacques Pépin took from this that it was okay to break tradition and carried the method on in his own cheese souffle recipe. As he explains — "it work[s], certainly differently than a regular souffle, but it's certainly much, much easier to do." His mother's essence and her creative approach to baking are clearly woven into his cooking, a tribute to her enduring legacy and its influence on Jacques Pépin's highly regarded culinary skills. 

While Jacques Pépin acknowledges that there are some potential shortcuts when making a cheese soufflé, he still insists that to achieve the iconic puff a few key techniques must be followed. The secret lies not in separating the eggs but in whisking the eggs by hand. This allows for greater control over the final product. Pépin emphasizes starting with fast, vigorous strokes, then slowing down while lifting the whisk for the right texture. He also stresses that you should use the whipped egg whites immediately — leaving them to sit can cause the soufflé to deflate rather than rise.

For his classic cheese soufflé, Pépin uses a shallow gratin dish as this gives the soufflé space to puff up above the rim to achieve the full, dramatic effect. In some recipes, he chooses Gruyère cheese for its subtle nutty taste. Meanwhile, his Grand Marnier soufflé is filled with a crème pâtissière — a thick French custard made with egg yolks, milk, vanilla, and sugar. This base transforms the soufflé from a savory breakfast dish into a sweet, citrusy dessert, swapping the traditional cheese and herbs for Grand Marnier liqueur (a popular digestif), orange zest, and powdered sugar.