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Omelet, Sweet
Put a table-spoonful of orange-flower water, or sherry and sugar, on the fire, let it boil three minutes, then put into a basin to cool. When cool add the yolks of three eggs, and beat to a cream. Put a pinch of salt to the whites, and whip them to a stiff froth, then stir them in lightly to the yolks. Melt half an ounce of butter in an omelet-pan, and pour in the mixture; put this on the fire for two minutes, and then into a very hot oven for three or four minutes. Make a dessert-spoonful of jam quite hot, place the omelet on a hot dish, spread on the jam lightly and quickly, fold over, sprinkle a little castor sugar on it, and serve.
This is a soufflé omelet rather than a folded French one: the whites carry it, so the hinge is speed. Have the jam hot, the dish hot and the sugar to hand before the pan goes on the heat.
- The missing sugar quantityThe recipe calls for "sherry and sugar" without saying how much. For three yolks, a tablespoon of sherry or orange-flower water with about two teaspoons of sugar is in the right range; too much sugar tends to make the omelet weep and stick.
- Why the syrup is boiled firstBoiling the sherry briefly reduces it and drives off some of the alcohol. The recipe is explicit that it must be cool before it meets the yolks; hot syrup risks setting them at the edges.
- Orange-flower waterStill sold, usually as orange blossom water in Middle Eastern groceries. Strength varies considerably by brand, so taste before committing to the full tablespoon and make up the difference with water.
- "A very hot oven"The book gives no temperature; a modern oven around 425-450F is a workable reading. The two minutes on the burner sets the base; the oven puffs and sets the top. Watch it rather than trusting the clock, as three or four minutes is enough for a set but still creamy centre.
- The panA well-seasoned or non-stick pan of 7-8 inches, with an ovenproof handle. Half an ounce of butter is one tablespoon, and it should be foaming but not browning when the mixture goes in.
- Folding in the whitesFold, do not stir, and stop while a few streaks remain. Over-worked whites collapse in the oven and give a flat, leathery omelet.
- Castor sugarSuperfine or caster sugar. Granulated will not dissolve on the surface in the time the omelet has before it reaches the table.
- YieldThree eggs makes one generous portion or two modest ones. It does not hold; serve it the moment it is folded.
Sweet omelets of this kind sit at the point where egg cookery meets pastry work. Nineteenth-century English cookery distinguished the plain savoury omelet, beaten whole and cooked on the stove, from the *omelette soufflée*, in which separated whites are folded in and the dish is finished in the oven. The orange-flower water belongs to an older confectionery vocabulary: distilled floral waters were a common sweet flavouring in English kitchens well before vanilla extract became cheap and commonplace, and this recipe itself offers sherry as an alternative.