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Oysters, Omelet Souffle Of
Beat the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth. Beat the yolks with four table-spoonfuls of milk and a little pepper and salt, and stir lightly into the whites. Take twelve oysters, cut them into small pieces, add them to the mixture, and pour the whole into an omelet-pan, in which a piece of butter has been already melted. The pan must be very hot. Cook for several minutes without stirring, but slip a knife round the edges to make sure it is not burning. When the centre is set, place the pan in the oven long enough to stiffen but not brown the top. Then fold, and serve quickly.
A soufflé omelet finished in the oven — separated eggs, folded, and served the moment it leaves the pan. The one thing to get right is the oyster: cut small and added raw, it releases liquid that will slacken the foam if you let the mixture stand.
- Mix and cook at onceBeaten whites begin collapsing within a minute or two, and shucked oysters weep salty liquor into the batter. Have the pan hot and buttered before you fold the oysters in, and pour immediately.
- Drain the oystersTwelve shucked oysters is roughly a half pint of meats. Lift them from their liquor, blot them, then cut each into three or four pieces; reserve the liquor for a sauce or discard it, but keep it out of the eggs.
- "Omelet-pan"An 8- or 9-inch heavy skillet with an ovenproof handle. Four eggs will fill it to the right depth; a larger pan gives a thin omelet that sets before the centre has any lift.
- "The pan must be very hot" — within reasonHot enough to set the base on contact, then moderate. A soufflé mixture over high heat browns and toughens underneath long before the middle sets, which is why the recipe has you slip a knife round the edge to check.
- Oven finishThe recipe gives no temperature, only 'long enough to stiffen but not brown the top.' A moderate oven for a few minutes, until the top is just firm to a light touch, answers that instruction; under a broiler it will brown in seconds and deflate on the way to the table.
- ButterNo quantity is given. About a tablespoon is enough to coat the pan and keep the base from catching.
- FoldingFold in half with a wide spatula rather than rolling it. A soufflé omelet is fragile and will tear if handled like a French rolled omelet.
- YieldServes two as a light dish, one as a substantial one. It cannot be held — it sinks noticeably within a couple of minutes, hence "serve quickly."
Soufflé omelets, made by separating eggs and beating the whites stiff, were a way of showing off technique at the breakfast and supper table. The oyster is here because oysters were cheap: through most of the 1800s the beds of the English and American coasts yielded them in great quantities, and cookery dictionaries of the period list dozens of ways to use them up — scalloped, curried, in patties, in soups, and folded into eggs like this. The pattern of the recipe is to bind a small quantity of shellfish in beaten egg and finish it in the oven.