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Oyster Omelet
Put half a dozen oysters into a saucepan with their liquor to scald; take them out, drain and cut them into quarters. Meanwhile put the yolks of three eggs into a basin, beat them to a cream, add one teaspoonful of finely-chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste, one tablespoonful of milk, and lastly, the oysters. Beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth and stir them in, together with a tablespoonful of melted butter. Put one and one-half ounces of butter into a fryingpan and when it has melted pour in the contents of the basin and hold the pan over the fire until the omelet has set. Give the pan a vigorous shake, loose the omelet from the bottom with a knife, hold the pan in front of the fire for a few minutes to let the upper part set, then fold it over, place it carefully on a dish, and serve hot.
A separated-egg omelet, closer to a small soufflé than to a French rolled omelet. Everything depends on treating the oysters and the whites gently.
- Scald means seconds, not minutesBring the oysters and their liquor just to the point where the edges ruffle, then lift them out at once — well under a minute. They will cook again inside the omelet, and oysters held at a simmer turn to rubber.
- Save the liquorThe recipe discards it. Strain it and reduce it by half with a little cream for a spoonful of sauce over the finished omelet, or drink it; it carries most of the flavour.
- Butter quantitiesOne and a half ounces is 3 tablespoons — generous but correct for a pan this size, since it both cooks and flavours. The additional tablespoon of melted butter goes into the batter and should be barely warm, not hot, or it will slacken the whites.
- Fold the whites, don't stir them"Stir them in" was standard phrasing, but treat it as folding: cut down through the yolk mixture and turn it over, stopping while a few streaks remain. Over-mixing here costs you the lift that makes this dish different from a plain omelet.
- Pan and heatAn 8- to 9-inch nonstick or well-seasoned skillet over medium-low. High heat sets the bottom before the middle has any chance, and a separated omelet cannot be rescued once the base browns.
- "Hold the pan in front of the fire"This means radiant heat on the top surface from an open range. Use a broiler set high, pan two or three inches beneath, for one to two minutes — or simply cover the pan for the last minute and let steam finish the top.
- YieldThree eggs and six oysters make one omelet serving two modestly, or one person generously. It does not scale well; make a second omelet rather than a bigger one.
- DonenessFold and serve while the interior is still visibly moist. It continues to set on the plate, and a fully firm centre means the oysters have been overcooked twice.
Oscar Tschirky's book collects the repertoire of a New York hotel kitchen at the turn of the twentieth century, when oysters were cheap, local and eaten at every hour, supplied by the Long Island and Chesapeake trade that made the city one of the great oyster markets of the world. Oyster omelets appear across nineteenth-century American and English cookery, and the separated-egg method used here recalls the older tradition of the "omelette soufflée," lightened with whipped whites and finished under radiant heat rather than rolled in the French manner that later became standard. The instruction to hold the pan in front of the fire assumes an open coal or wood range with an exposed glowing face, a fixture that became steadily rarer in professional kitchens as gas ranges spread.