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Friar's Omelets (Prepare twelve apples)
995. Prepare twelve apples as for sauce, and stir in a quarter of a pound of sugar and a quarter of a pound of butter; when cold, add four eggs well beaten, and fry in butter or lard made very hot, as for French frying, or proceed as follows: Well butter a dish, strew bread-crumbs or vermicelli over it, so as to make them stick to it, put in the mixture, then strew crumbs or vermicelli plentifully over the top; when baked. turn it out of the dish and strew sugar over.
Two dishes in one entry: a sweet apple fritter batter for the frying pan, and a baked apple pudding crusted with crumbs. Both stand or fall on getting the apple pulp thick and cold before the eggs go in.
- Apples "as for sauce"Peel, core and stew the apples with a splash of water until they collapse, then beat smooth. Twelve apples is somewhere around 3 to 4 lb depending on size, giving perhaps 4 cups of pulp; cook it down until a spoon leaves a clear track, or the pudding may not set.
- Quarter of a poundA quarter pound of sugar is about half a cup, and a quarter pound of butter is one American stick. Stir both into the hot pulp so they dissolve, then cool completely.
- Why cold mattersFour beaten eggs added to warm pulp will curdle into threads of cooked egg. Cool the mixture to room temperature or below before beating them in; this is the hinge of the recipe.
- VermicelliHere it means fine dried pasta strands, broken or crushed into short lengths, used as a coating exactly like breadcrumbs. Dried crumbs work at least as well and brown more evenly.
- Baking the puddingThe recipe gives no oven heat or time, only "when baked." A moderate modern oven, around 350F for roughly 45 minutes, will brown the top crust and set the centre. Butter the dish heavily and press the crumbs on firmly, or it will not turn out cleanly.
- The fried version"As for French frying" points to deep fat; the recipe asks only that it be "made very hot," which in modern terms is about 350 to 375F. The mixture is soft, so drop it by spoonfuls and fry in small batches; a thin pulp will disperse in the fat.
- SeasoningNo spice or flavouring is specified. Grated lemon zest, a little nutmeg or cinnamon suits the mixture and is consistent with period practice.
- YieldEnough for six to eight as a pudding. Serve the baked version warm, dusted with sugar as directed, and cream alongside if you like.