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Fruit Souffle
Split, peel, and stone a dozen fine ripe apricots, put them into a preserving-pan, with half a pint of water and half a pound of sifted sugar. Keep them simmering gently, until the apricots can be pulped and beaten through a fine sieve; then mix together four ounces of flour and half a pint of cream; add it to the pulped apricots, with two ounces of butter, and stir over the fire until the whole boils. Take the mixture off the fire, and stir in six beaten yolks of eggs, and lastly nine whites whisked to a firm froth. Have ready a souffle dish, with a band of paper above to allow of its rising a great deal, which it will do if the above instructions are carefully carried out. Bake in a moderate heat, and turn the dish about that all parts of the souffle may be alike. Time, three-quarters of an hour.
A flour-thickened (panada) soufflé rather than a modern egg-foam one, which is why it survives three-quarters of an hour in the oven without collapsing. The hinge is the fold: the base is thick and hot-set, so slacken it with a spoonful of whites before folding in the rest, or the froth will be knocked flat.
- Half a pintCassell's is an English book, so a pint is 20 fl oz and half a pint is 10 fl oz — about 1 1/4 cups. That applies to both the water for the apricots and the cream in the base.
- Moderate heatThe book gives no temperature; this is usually read as somewhere around 325-350F/165-180C. Resist opening the door for the first half hour; "turn the dish about" was advice for unevenly heated coal ovens and is less necessary in a modern one.
- Preserving-panA wide, shallow, unlined copper or brass pan for jam. Any wide stainless or enamelled saucepan works; width matters because you want the apricots to reduce, not stew.
- Sifted sugarNot icing sugar. In this period "sifted" means loaf sugar crushed and passed through a sieve — ordinary granulated or caster sugar. Half a pound is about 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons.
- The flour and creamFour ounces of flour (about 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) into 10 fl oz of cream makes a thick batter that stiffens as it cooks. Whisk it smooth cold before it meets the hot pulp; the recipe removes it from the fire as soon as it boils, so make sure it really does come to a full boil or the soufflé will taste of raw flour.
- Nine whites to six yolksThe imbalance looks deliberate: the extra whites carry the rise. Modern large eggs are generally bigger than Victorian ones, so eight whites may be closer to the intended volume if your eggs are large. The three spare yolks keep a day for custard.
- The paper bandA collar of paper tied round a deep straight-sided dish of at least 2 1/2 to 3 quarts, standing 2-3 inches above the rim, buttered on the inside. Butter the dish itself and dust it with sugar so the mixture can climb.
- YieldTwelve apricots and nine egg whites make a large soufflé: six to eight servings. Serve it the moment it leaves the oven.
The flour-and-cream base is essentially a sweet panada, the same thickening logic as a béchamel, and the method is French in descent, part of the entremets repertoire that English kitchens absorbed through the nineteenth century. The heading "Fruit Souffle" rather than "Apricot Souffle" suits a base that would take any stewed fruit pulp stiff enough to hold a spoon. The paper collar and the injunction to turn the dish suit the coal-fired range, where heat came unevenly from one side. Apricots in Victorian Britain were largely a walled-garden and hothouse fruit rather than a cheap market staple, so a dozen fine ripe ones suggests a household with either a gardener or a good greengrocer.