Boil milk and cream together.  Melt butter, mix in the flour and stir over heat 5 minutes, adding the milk and cream mixture a little at a time.  When thoroughly cooked, remove from heat and stir in cheese, seasonings and the yolks of all 8 eggs, well beaten, and the whites of 2 even better beaten.  When well mixed, fold in the remaining egg whites, stiffly beaten, until you have a batter as smooth and thick as cream.  Pour this into ramekins of paper, porcelain or earthenware, filling each about 2/3 full to allow for them to puff up as they bake in a very slow oven until golden-brown (or a little less than 20 minutes).

 Le Ramequin Morezien

     This celebrated specialty of Franche-Comte is described as “a
     porridge of water, butter, seasoning, chopped garlic and toast;
     thickened with minced Gruyere and served very hot.”

Several French provinces are known for distinctive individual Puffs usually served in the dainty fluted forms they are cooked in.  In Jeanne d’Arc’s Lorraine, for instance, there are the simply named Les Ramequins, made of flour, Gruyere and eggs.

 Swiss-Roquefort Ramekins

1/4 pound Swiss cheese 1/4 pound Roquefort cheese 1/2 pound butter 8 eggs, separated 4 breakfast rolls, crusts removed 1/2 cup cream

The batter is made in the usual way, with the soft insides of the rolls simmered in the cream and stirred in.  The egg whites are folded in last, as always, the batter poured into ramekins part full and baked to a golden-brown.  Then they are served instantaneously, lest they fall.

 Puff Paste Ramekins

Puff or other pastry is rolled out fiat and sprinkled with fine tasty cheese or any cheese mixture, such as Parmesan with Gruyere and/or Swiss Sapsago for a piquant change, but in lesser quantity than the other cheeses used.  Parmesan cheese has long been the favorite for these.

Fold paste into 3 layers, roll out again and dust with more cheese.  Fold once more and roll this out and cut in small fancy shapes to bake 10 to 15 minutes in a hot oven.  Brushing with egg yolk before baking makes these Ramekins shine.

 Frying Pan Ramekins

Melt 2 ounces of butter, let it cool a little and then mix with 1/2 pound of cheese.  Fold in the whites of 3 eggs, beaten stiff but not dry.  Cover frying pan with buttered papers, put slices of bread on this and cover with the cheese mixture.  Cook about 5 minutes, take it off and brown it with a salamander.

There are two schools of salamandering among turophiles.  One holds that it toughens the cheese and makes it less digestible; the other that it’s simply swell.  Some of the latter addicts have special cheese-branding irons made with their monograms, to identify their creations, whether they be burned on the skins of Welsh Rabbits or Frying Pan Ramekins.  Salamandering with an iron that has a gay, carnivalesque design can make a sort of harlequin Ramekin.