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Omelette Soufflée
Whites of six eggs Yolks of three eggs Juice of half a lemon 3 tablespoonfuls powdered sugar First grease a quart baking dish with butter, and then see that the oven is hot. Now beat the whites to a very stiff froth, beat the yolks, add them to the whites, then the sugar and juice of lemon; stir carefully, and quickly heap into the baking dish; dredge with powdered sugar and put into the oven. Bake fifteen minutes, or until a golden brown, and serve immediately. It may also be baked in paper cases.
A dessert omelette in the French style, closer to a soufflé than to anything you would fold in a pan. It stands or falls on how you treat the beaten whites and how fast it gets to the table.
- The hinge: fold, do not stirThe instruction to "stir carefully" is period phrasing for what we would call folding. Cut the beaten yolks, sugar and lemon juice through the whites with a spatula in a dozen strokes at most and stop while streaks remain; every extra turn deflates the mixture and the omelette bakes flat.
- A hot ovenRead "hot" as 400-425F. The high heat sets the outside quickly so the interior can inflate; a cooler oven gives a dense, weeping result rather than the golden crust the recipe wants.
- Powdered sugarIn this period "powdered sugar" means finely ground granulated sugar, closest to today's caster or superfine sugar. Modern confectioners' sugar contains cornstarch, which will affect the texture, though it is fine for the dusting over the top.
- Quart baking dishA one-quart (about 1 litre) dish, and it wants to be near-full so the mixture can climb the sides. Butter it right up to the rim. Anything wider and shallower will brown before the centre sets.
- Whites without helpThe recipe calls for no cream of tartar. A pinch of cream of tartar, or a few drops of lemon juice beaten into the whites, will help you reach the same stiff, stable froth in a stainless or glass bowl.
- Fifteen minutes and no waiting"Serve immediately" is not a flourish. A sugar-based soufflé omelette begins to sink within two or three minutes of leaving the oven, so have plates and diners ready before it goes in.
- Paper casesThe alternative bake in "paper cases" means stiff buttered paper moulds, roughly what a modern ramekin or a doubled parchment collar does. Individual portions will take less than the fifteen minutes given; go by the golden brown.
- Yield and the spare yolksServes two, three at a stretch, as a light course. You are left with three yolks.
The omelette soufflée from the French repertoire entered English-language cookery books in the nineteenth century, and its logic is that of a soufflé — built on beaten whites rather than a flour panada, which is why it uses more whites than yolks. It needs no long roasting, no stove-top vigil and no ice, only a quarter of an hour in a hot oven, and it produces something that reads as a substantial sweet while being mostly air. Baking in paper cases was one recognised way of making individual portions when porcelain dishes were not to hand.