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Omelette Souffle
998. Beat the yolks of six eggs, put to them four spoonfuls of sugar and a little essence of lemon; work these well together, whip the whites of the eggs till they are firm, mix altogether; butter your fryingpan, put in the omelette, and set it on a slow fire, taking care that it does not burn. Turn it out upon the dish it is to be served in, glaze it by throwing sugar over it, put a little preserve on the top, fold it over, put it in the oven till risen, glaze and serve. CПAP. XXI.-CREAMS, CUSTARDS, JELLIES, AND STEWED FRUIT.
A sweet souffléd omelette in the mid-Victorian manner: yolks beaten with sugar, whites whipped stiff, set gently in a pan and then puffed in the oven. The whole thing depends on how little you handle the whites.
- Folding, not mixing"Mix altogether" means fold the stiff whites into the sweetened yolks in two or three additions with a spatula, keeping as much air as possible. Beating them together as the wording suggests will give you a flat sweet omelette rather than a risen one.
- Spoonfuls of sugarA Victorian "spoonful" in a dessert recipe usually means a tablespoon, which would give roughly 4 tablespoons (about 50 g) for six yolks, though the measure is not fixed. That is a lightly sweet mixture; it will still colour fast because of the sugar.
- Essence of lemonUsually lemon oil dissolved in spirit, generally stronger than a modern lemon extract. Try about 1/4 teaspoon of extract, or the finely grated zest of one lemon, and adjust to taste.
- Slow fireMedium-low heat, and no stirring once the mixture is in the pan. You want the base set and lightly gold in three or four minutes while the top is still loose; a nonstick or well-seasoned pan of 9-10 inches suits six eggs.
- Oven heatThe original gives none. A hot oven of about 400-425F for four to six minutes is right: long enough to puff and set the centre, short enough that the sugar glaze does not scorch.
- Glazing with sugarThrowing sugar over and returning it to the heat was done under a salamander, an iron plate heated red and held above the dish. A broiler on high for under a minute, watched constantly, does the same job, as does a blowtorch.
- The preserveWarm the jam first. Cold preserve straight from the jar chills the centre and drags the omelette when you fold it over.
- Yield and timingSix eggs serve three to four as a dessert. It must go to table immediately; a soufflé omelette begins collapsing within a minute or two of leaving the oven.
The omelette soufflée belonged to the French repertoire that English cookery books drew on in the nineteenth century. Its rise depends entirely on beaten egg white, the same principle behind the baked soufflés then fashionable, but the pan start makes it quicker and less liable to failure than a moulded soufflé. The instruction to glaze by throwing sugar over the surface reflects kitchen equipment now gone: the salamander, a long-handled iron plate heated in the fire and held close over a dish to caramelise or brown it, in common use until gas grills displaced it.