cheese souffle

Today I entertained myself in the quest for the perfect souffle. My first batch turned out lumpy and inconsistant and I felt confused about the mixing of the egg whites into the batter - should they be well mixed with no lumps or bumps at all? Or just quickly mixed and poured into the ramekin? Anyway to my delight I found a Julia Child video on You Tube with the perfect instructions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytp96F00nhs. She constantly threw out little nuggets of wisdom and gave ratios for bechamel sauce to eggs enabling  you to inprovise. I can feel an addiction coming on. The mystery of egg whites being folded in was also solved, they must not be whipped to the crumbly stage, they must be only whipped to perfect velvety peaks, then they will fold into the bechamel sauce like a dream!

Basic cheese souffle
50g unsalted butter plus extra for buttering the ramekins
40g plain flour
1/2 tsp english mustard powder
pinch of cayenne
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
300mls milk
100g gryere, compte or chedder
6 medium free range eggs separated plus 2 extra egg whites.
Preheat oven to 200C.  Place baking sheet to heat up.  
Brush 6 ramekins with melted butter and breadcrumbs. I made breadcrumbs by blitzing some toasted brioche in the food processor.
Melt the butter, add flour and spices.  Cook for a couple of minutes, gradually add milk stirring until comes to the boil.  Boil for two minutes or until thick.
Off heat stir in cheese and egg yolks (Julia said to stir in cheese at the end along with egg whites but I found the compte cheese went all clumpy and I had to over stir it)
Whisk 8 egg whites with a few drops of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of salt until they reach the velvety stage. Should form gentle peaks, if you over-whip to the fragmented crumbly egg white stage simply add another egg white and keep your eye on the last stages of whipping.
Add a spoonful of egg white into bechamel sauce mixture to loosen it, stirring it in well.  Then gently fold the rest of the egg whites into the mixture by folding in and turning the bowl around with your left hand. When incorporated into a smooth mixture although may be a few lumps of fluffy egg white left, spoon into ramekins. Level the top and run your thumb around the edge to give a groove which should help it rise.  Julia then put a piece of tinfoil - buttered around the top of the ramekin so the souffle didn't fall out into the oven.
Put on baking sheet and bake for 8-10mins for small ramekins or 25-30 for large.  
They are ready when they're still a little wobbly but golden on top.