I made my first souffle last night, a cheese one, and I think it turned out pretty good. I made it from a recipe in Julia's Kitchen Wisdom and used a 6-cup dish, which made for a more stable, less spectacular souffle. (The souffle didn't rise above the dish; you'd need a 4-cup dish for that.) So I didn't even need a collar.

First thing I did was heat the oven to 400 degrees and get out the 2 egg whites I had in the freezer. Then I prepped the bowl I was going to whip the whites in: rubbed the inside and the beaters with a little bit of salt and white vinegar (the residual vinegar in the bowl helps stabilize the whites). Then I put the frozen egg whites in the bowl and put the bowl in a pan with an inch of warm water (to thaw the whites). I added 3 more whites to that bowl, saving those egg yolks plus 1 more in another bowl.

I prepped the baking dish by coating it with butter and grated Parmesan and shredded a cup of Madrigal Swiss for the souffle. Then I made the white sauce: Cooked 3 tablespoons flour and 2 1/2 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan until foamy, then cooked it a couple minutes longer and took it off the heat. Meanwhile I heated a cup of milk in the microwave and then whisked it into the flour mixture. Simmered that over low heat to thicken, then added 1/4 teaspoon paprika, a couple gratings of nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper. Then whisked in the 4 egg yolks, 1 at a time. Set that aside.

Whipped the 5 egg whites in the bowl with a hand mixer until they were shiny and had peaks when the beaters were lifted. Whisked a big glob of that into the white sauce, then folded in the rest of the whites, alternating with the 1 cup shredded Swiss. Poured it into the prepared dish, put it in the oven, turned the oven down to 375 degrees and let it cook for 30 minutes. It was done when a skewer inserted in the side came out clean.

Todd looked at this beautiful, puffy souffle and said, So it's basically like scrambled eggs. And I thought about the ingredients and said Yeah, I guess, except for the hour of work that went into it. But then when we dug in, and he put some in his mouth, he said, This is nothing like scrambled eggs. Why'd you say it was? (I guess I just thought he'd be more likely to try it if I said it was like something familiar - and this is my husband, not a child.) He ate it, had seconds and liked the cheese flavor.