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Jam Omelet
Beat four eggs, and mix with them a tea-spoonful of moist sugar, a pinch of salt, and a table-spoonful of milk. Make an omelet-pan quite hot--the best way to do this is to put it on the fire with a little fat, and when this boils pour it off, and wipe the pan dry--put two ounces of fat or oil into the pan, and when it begins to bubble pour in the eggs, etc., and keep stirring them with a spoon until lightly set. Let them remain a minute, until the omelet is browned on one side, then turn it on a hot dish, spread a little jam in the middle, fold the edges over on each side, sift a little sugar over, and serve as quickly as possible. Time, five or six minutes to fry the omelet. Probable cost, 8d. Sufficient for three persons.
A plain French-style folded omelet finished with jam, from the era when a sweet omelet was a routine supper dish rather than a novelty. The recipe is sound; only the fat quantities and the pan handling need translating.
- Cut the fat backTwo ounces (about 4 tablespoons) of fat for four eggs is far more than a modern non-stick or well-seasoned pan needs. A tablespoon of butter is enough; the original amount assumes a heavy iron pan and cheap dripping.
- "Fat or oil" means dripping or butterVictorian kitchens often kept rendered beef or pork dripping on hand, which may be why the recipe leaves the choice open. For a sweet omelet use butter, and let it foam rather than brown.
- Moist sugarMoist sugar is unrefined or partly refined sugar with some molasses still in it, closer to today's light brown sugar than to white caster. Either works here; a teaspoon in four eggs is barely sweet, since the jam carries the dish.
- Seasoning the panThe trick of heating fat, pouring it off and wiping the pan dry is a real one for iron pans, and worth keeping if you use cast iron. It leaves the surface evenly hot and lightly greased, so the egg is less likely to grip.
- Five or six minutes is too longThat timing belongs to an open fire with uneven heat. Over a modern burner on medium-high, four beaten eggs set in 60 to 90 seconds; longer and the curd turns tough and weeps.
- Stir, then stopThe hinge is in the phrase "until lightly set." Stir only until soft curds form, then leave the omelet undisturbed for the base to colour. Stirring past that point gives you scrambled egg in a folded shape.
- Warm the jamCold jam straight from the jar chills the centre and tears the omelet when you fold. Loosen two tablespoons with a spoonful of water and warm it briefly.
- Yield"Sufficient for three persons" reflects a multi-dish Victorian supper. As a modern dessert or brunch plate it serves two.
Sweet omelets sit oddly with modern eyes, but through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the omelet was as often a sweet dish as a savoury one, and English cookery books routinely carried jam, apricot and rum versions alongside those with herbs or ham. The costing of 8d. is in keeping with the household-economy approach of books that priced dishes for the mistress of the house, and the phrase "fat or oil" rather than butter alone points to a kitchen where rendered drippings were saved and used.