Soufflé is Paris's risen, twice-baked technique dish: a hot bechamel, separated eggs, the whites whipped to peaks, folded, baked at 200°C for 12 minutes, served immediately or it falls.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
The soufflé was codified by Antonin Carême around 1815 in his Palais-Royal patisserie, where he wrote the first recipe to call for separated eggs and gentle folding. Auguste Escoffier expanded the form in Le Guide Culinaire (1903) into both sweet and savoury versions: Grand Marnier, Suzette, cheese, mushroom. Le Soufflé restaurant in the 1er has cooked nothing but the dish since 1961, with 30 sweet and savoury versions on the carte. Le Grand Véfour has kept its Grand Marnier soufflé on the menu unchanged for six decades. The technique is unforgiving: whites to firm peaks, the folding must keep the air in, the oven door cannot open mid-bake.
Common allergens: Dairy, Egg, Gluten
Tip from the editors. Whip the whites to firm but not stiff peaks; over-whipped whites lose air during the fold. The oven door does not open until you serve.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Two centuries of dining-room history at Le Grand Véfour, the Palais-Royal mirror-and-velvet salon where Paris cooked dinner for Napoleon, Colette and Cocteau.
Signature: Ravioles de foie gras, Soufflé
Order: The ravioles de foie gras at the chef's prix-fixe lunch.
Tip: Tuesday-Friday lunch is a third the price of dinner and books two weeks out, not four months.
Tomy Gousset's Tomy & Co in Paris's 7e earned a Michelin star in 2018 and still runs the seasonal kitchen everyone in the embassy quarter books for a long lunch.
Signature: Sweetbreads, Pithivier of game
Order: Sweetbreads in winter, pithivier of game in autumn, the soufflé to finish.
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday. The five-course tasting at €98 is the deal of the room on weeknights.
La Poule au Pot in Paris's 1er Les Halles cooks classic grand-mère bistro until 02:00. The dining room is warm; the poule au pot for two needs 45 minutes from order.
Try: Poule au pot Henri IV
Tip: After midnight the room thins to regulars; the soufflé Grand Marnier is the order for a late dessert.
More cities are in research. Want soufflé covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.