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Preserve or Jam Omelet
Beat thoroughly the yolks of six eggs. Add three ounces of sugar, and if any flavouring is desired be careful that it harmonises with the jam that is to be used. A strawberry omelet may be flavoured with orange-flower water, an apple-marmalade omelet with grated lemonrind. Beat the whites of the eggs to a firm froth, and just before the omelet is poured into the pan mix them with the rest. Dissolve two ounces of butter in the omelet-pan, pour in the mixture, and fry the omelet in the usual way (see OMELET). Before folding it, lay two or three table-spoonfuls of jam in the centre. Sprinkle a little sugar over the top, candy by holding over it a salamander or red-hot fire-shovel, and serve immediately, before the omelet can fall. Time, four to six minutes. Probable cost, 10d. Sufficient for two or three persons.
This is a sweet soufflé omelet rather than a folded plain one: the whites are whipped separately, so it rises in the pan and collapses within a minute or two of leaving it. Everything should be ready before the eggs go in.
- Fold the whites in last, and lightlyThe instruction to mix them "just before the omelet is poured into the pan" is the hinge. Beaten whites begin to weep within minutes; fold in three additions with a spatula, stopping while streaks remain, and pour immediately.
- Pan and heatTwo ounces of butter is generous by modern habit but it is what keeps a sugared batter from catching. Use a 9-10 inch non-stick or well-seasoned pan over medium heat, and expect the base to colour before the middle sets.
- The salamanderA salamander was an iron plate on a handle heated in the fire and held over food to glaze it. Use an overhead broiler at its highest setting for under a minute, or a cook's blowtorch; a grill rack set too low will simply cook the omelet through.
- Apple marmaladeIn period usage this means a smooth, thick stewed-apple puree, sweetened and reduced, not orange marmalade. Any thick jam works, but a runny one will soak the omelet and stop it holding its fold.
- Orange-flower waterStill sold, and much stronger than it looks. Half a teaspoon is enough for six yolks; more turns soapy.
- Sugar quantityThree ounces is roughly 85 g, or about six to seven tablespoons, whisked into the yolks until pale. With two or three tablespoons of jam as well, this is decidedly sweet by current taste and can be cut to two ounces without affecting the structure.
- Timing and yieldFour to six minutes is accurate for the pan stage. Serves two as written, three at a stretch, and does not keep for a moment "before the omelet can fall."
- Probable cost10d is ten pence in pre-decimal money, a Victorian pricing note for the household accounts and of no use as a modern guide.
Cassell's carries a cross-reference to its omelet entry, and the sweet omelet was treated as a distinct branch of the form rather than an oddity: British and French cookery books of the later nineteenth century routinely list omelettes aux confitures alongside savoury ones, as a quick entremets or a supper dish that used up preserves from the store cupboard. The separate whipping of whites, which turns the omelet into something closer to a soufflé, is the technique that distinguishes it, and the finishing glaze with a salamander shows the kitchen equipment of the open-range era still in use — a heated iron held above the dish to caramelise sugar, doing the work now given to the broiler or the blowtorch. The pairing of orange-flower water with strawberry and lemon rind with apple reflects a period habit of matching a floral or citrus note to fruit preserves, the same logic that governs Victorian puddings and creams.