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Cheese Omelette
3 eggs beaten to a thick froth. 1/2 teacup grated cracker. 3 tablespoonfuls grated cheese.
Cook in a frying-pan with butter. Some persons add chopped thyme and parsley.--Mrs. P.
A three-egg pan omelette bulked out with cracker crumbs, in the manner of the period. It behaves less like a French omelette than like a small savoury cake, and it wants to be treated accordingly.
- The teacupTeacup measures in books of this period are usually reckoned somewhere between about 4 and 6 fl oz, so half a teacup is on the order of 1/4 to 1/3 cup of crumbs. Against three eggs that is still a good deal of dry matter, and the mixture will stiffen quickly on standing.
- Grated crackerPlain unsalted or lightly salted soda crackers, crushed or grated fine, the equivalent of cracker crumbs. Period crackers were probably less salty than modern saltines, though that is an assumption rather than anything the recipe tells us; the recipe adds no salt, so taste before adding any.
- Loosen itThe original assumes the eggs alone will carry the crumbs. Two or three tablespoons of milk beaten in gives a mixture that will actually spread in the pan rather than sit in a lump.
- The cheeseMost likely a firm cheddar-type cheese, farm-made or factory-made; the recipe does not specify. Any sharp, dry cheddar grates and melts correctly here; fresh mozzarella or a wet young cheese will weep.
- Beaten to a thick frothThe recipe does not say whether the whites are beaten separately; whole eggs beaten until pale and voluminous will answer. Fold the crumbs and cheese in at the last moment and cook at once, before the air goes out.
- Heat and timingMedium heat in a well-buttered 8-inch pan, three to four minutes on the first side until set at the edges, then fold or turn. High heat browns the cracker before the centre sets.
- The herbsThyme and parsley, chopped fine, at about a teaspoon of each — added to the egg, not scattered on top, so they perfume the whole.
- YieldServes two as a light supper or breakfast dish, one if it is the whole meal.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879), compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree, was assembled from contributions by named and initialled Virginia housewives, which is why so many entries close with a signature like "Mrs. P." — the book is a record of a social network as much as a kitchen. The cracker in this omelette is doing familiar nineteenth-century work: stretching three eggs to feed more people, and giving body to the dish. Grated cracker, pounded biscuit and stale breadcrumbs appear all through American cookbooks of the period as thickeners and extenders, in puddings and croquettes as well as egg dishes. The optional thyme and parsley are a pairing often associated with the Anglo-Virginian kitchen garden, offered here as a refinement rather than a requirement.