Fried and grilled
Kaassoufflé
A Dutch snack-bar pastry of cheese sealed in thin dough, deep-fried until crisp and molten inside.
A kaassoufflé is a Dutch deep-fried snack: a square or half-moon of thin pastry wrapped around a slice of young Dutch cheese, fried until crisp. It is sold in snack bars and from wall vending machines across the Netherlands, and is the usual vegetarian choice next to the croquette and frikandel. Despite the name, it is nothing like a French soufflé.
What goes in
- Young Gouda-type cheese536%, Mild and quick to melt.
- Thin pastry536%, Crimped closed.
- Oil321%, For deep-frying.
- Mustard17%, To serve.
Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each ingredient's share of the dish.
Made step by step
Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional way, in outline.
Step 1: Grate Cut slices of young cheese to fit the pastry. Step 2: Fill Wrap each slice in thin dough and crimp the edges firmly. Step 3: Rest Chill or freeze so the shape holds. Step 4: Fry Deep-fry until crisp and golden. Step 5: Serve Drain and serve hot with mustard. Finished Kaassoufflé, by share.
Snack bar food
The Netherlands has a strong culture of fried snacks, sold from snack bars, at markets and from automats, walls of small heated windows where a snack can be bought at any hour. The kaassoufflé became a fixture of this world in the second half of the twentieth century, mostly made in factories and fried to order. It is eaten on the go, often with mustard.
Inside
The filling is a young, mild Dutch cheese of the Gouda type, which softens to a hot, thick liquid when fried. The pastry is a thin dough, crimped tightly so the cheese stays in. Some versions add ham. It must be eaten carefully, because the centre is very hot when it leaves the fryer.
Where it is used
The cheeses in it
Also part of it, and being written: Gouda cheese (Young Dutch cheese of this type is the filling.).
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Sources and further reading
Original text and drawings by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and kitchen makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Edam: Yvwv, CC BY-SA 3.0, source