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Apricot Souffle
Pare, stone, and slice one dozen large ripe apricots. Place them in a saucepan with three table-spoonfuls of sifted sugar and three of water. Let them simmer gently until reduced to a pulp, then mix in very smoothly three table-spoonfuls of ground rice or flour, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and a breakfastcupful of cream or new milk. When the liquid boils pour it out and add to it the yolks of six eggs. Well oil the souffl-tin, and at the last moment add the whites of the eggs beaten to a firm froth. Bake in a quick oven, and let the souffl be served directly it is taken out, or it will be spoilt both in taste and appearance. Time to bake, half an hour. Probable cost, 2s., if made with milk; apricots, 2d. each. Sufficient for a moderate-sized tin.
A late-Victorian fruit souffl fe built on a thick cooked pur ext is sound; most of what needs translating is the vocabulary, the oven, and the handling of the eggs.
- The hinge: cool the base before the yolksThe instruction to "pour it out and add" the yolks means the boiling pur ee should leave the pan and lose its fiercest heat first. Beat the yolks in off the heat, one or two at a time, or they will set into threads before the souffl e ever sees the oven.
- "A quick oven" for half an hourA quick oven is usually glossed as about 425-450F. At that heat a 30-minute bake risks over-browning the crown before the centre sets; one common modern approach is to start hot and finish nearer 375-400F, a large fruit souffle taking roughly 25-35 minutes, until the top is set and the middle still trembles.
- BreakfastcupfulA breakfast cup is larger than a teacup — roughly 8-10 fl oz. Take it as a generous cup of cream or whole milk; the pur ee should end up thick enough to hold a spoon upright.
- Butter the size of a walnutAbout 1 oz, or 2 tablespoons.
- Ground rice, sifted sugar, new milkGround rice is milled rice, close to rice flour though usually somewhat coarser, and a common Victorian thickener; plain flour works, as the recipe itself allows. Sifted sugar is about the fineness of caster or superfine. New milk simply means fresh whole milk.
- Oil the tin, but butter and sugar itThis recipe calls for oiling; butter applied in upward strokes and then dusted with caster sugar gives the mixture something to climb and a better crust. A "moderate-sized tin" is not defined here, but something in the region of a 1.5-quart dish suits the quantities.
- Folding the whitesBeat to a firm froth, not dry and grainy. Slacken the heavy fruit base with a spoonful of white first, then fold the rest in quickly — the recipe is right that this happens at the last moment, with the oven already up to heat.
- Yield and servingThe recipe states only that it is enough for a moderate-sized tin, which would serve roughly six to eight. The warning to serve it the instant it leaves the oven is not decorative; it will begin to sink within a few minutes.
- ApricotsA dozen large ripe apricots is roughly 2 lb before stoning. Underripe supermarket fruit will need a few minutes longer in the pan and possibly more sugar; taste the pur ee before thickening it.
Souffle is simply the past participle of the French souffler, to blow or puff, and the dish had made its way into English kitchens by the time it appeared in books like Cassell's. The construction here — a cooked, starch-thickened base enriched with yolks and lightened with whipped whites — is the classic sweet souffle formula, with ground rice standing in for the flour panada; ground rice was a cheap, reliable British thickener also used for puddings and invalid cookery. The costing is worth reading closely: apricots at twopence each made this a two-shilling dish, expensive enough that the fruit was clearly a luxury. Cassell's habit of pricing every recipe was a selling point for readers budgeting a household, and the recipe insists that the souffle be served "directly it is taken out".