A Valentine’s Gougère
Dame Elisabeth Luard shares a celebration of Cheese, Craft and Company
This Valentine’s Day, we share a dish steeped in European culinary tradition and conviviality: the gougère. Originating in Burgundy, where it was long served alongside the region’s celebrated wines, the gougère occupies that perfect space between comfort and elegance — a sophisticated expression of the simple marriage between cheese, butter and flour.
Part soufflé, part savoury choux, this generous version is designed to be shared — whether as a romantic centrepiece, a convivial starter among friends, or a gesture of hospitality. Crisp on the outside, tender and richly savoury within, it speaks to the timeless pleasure of gathering around food made with care.
Serve warm from the oven, accompanied by a simple salad and, if possible, a glass of Burgundy.
Happy Valentine, folks!
Two's company, three's a crowd and - well - four's a party. The gougère - call it a sophisticated version of the cheese sarnie - is said to have come into being sometime in the eighteenth or nineteenth century as the perfect cellar-partner for the wines of Burgundy. There's also talk of a previous incarnation as a multi-ingredient soup, and as a dish for Palm Sunday in Belgium. Serve as a main course for two or three (with a slice or two of jambon de Bayonne and a petite salade), or a starter for four.
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
300ml water
125g butter, roughly chopped
About 250g plain flour
4-5 medium eggs
250g strong cheese (Comtois, Gruyere, cheddar-type)
Salt and cayenne pepper
Method
Bring the water to a rolling boil with the butter. As soon as the butter melts, beat in the flour, working it with a wooden spoon over the heat till it forms a dough that comes away from the sides (2-3 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat, and leave to cool to finger-heat .
Meanwhile prepare the cheese: dice or roughly grate two thirds, cut the rest into fine slivers, and reserve. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.
Beat the eggs into the dough one at a time - easiest in a mixer - at first it will be somewhat reluctant to accept the liquid egg and form scrambled lumps. Keep beating between each addition till the dough and egg is fully integrated before you add another. Persist: the dough will soon become looser. As soon as the dough begins soften and look shiny but is still firm enough to hold its shape on the spoon, beat in a little salt, a teaspoon of cayenne and the two thirds of the cheese that's chopped or grated.
Using a couple of tablespoons dipped in warm water, drop dollops of the dough onto a baking tray, buttered if necessary, each dollop overlapping the other to form a heart-shape. Sprinkle the tops with the slivered cheese. Bake for 35-40 minutes till well-risen, firm and prettily browned. Serve immediately, as for a soufflé, with a little salad in which you're included a few young dandelion leaves for a dose of iron, and a glass or two of one of Burgundy's classiest for honeyed words you'll currently be called upon to deliver.