No. 2882

Bonvalet Omelet

Omelette Bonvalet

Fry a tablespoonful of chopped onion in butter with two ounces of chopped morils or mushrooms; add salt, pepper, nutmeg, chopped parsley, marinated tunny fish cut in quarter-inch squares, meat glaze (No. 402) and cooked ham cut in three-sixteenths of an inch pieces. With these ingredients fill an omelet, and finish it the same as an Argentine (No. 2878); pour around an espagnole sauce (No. 414) containing minced gherkins.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A filled French omelet from Ranhofer's kitchen, written in the shorthand of a professional brigade that already had stock, glaze and sauce standing on the range. The work is almost entirely in the garnish; the eggs are the last two minutes.

Make the filling first, and cool it slightlyThe onion, mushrooms, ham and tuna should be cooked, seasoned and off the heat before a single egg is beaten. A wet or boiling-hot filling will tear the omelet as you fold it.
"Morils" are morelsTwo ounces fresh is roughly a generous handful; dried morels want about 1/4 oz, soaked 20 minutes in warm water and drained (strain and reduce the soaking liquid into the filling). Morels must be cooked through — they are not to be tasted raw or briefly warmed.
Marinated tunny fishNineteenth-century tunny was generally sold salted or preserved in oil, and marinades with vinegar and aromatics were usual. Good oil-packed tuna, drained and dressed with a spoonful of its oil plus a splash of white wine vinegar, is a reasonable stand-in. Cut it in 1/4-inch dice as written so it holds its shape.
Meat glaze (No. 402)Glace de viande: brown stock reduced to a syrup that sets firm when cold. A teaspoon is enough here. A commercial demi-glace concentrate or reduced veal stock does the same job of binding and darkening the filling.
Espagnole (No. 414)The classic brown sauce built on brown roux and veal stock, and a full day's work on its own. A well-made demi-glace or a reduced brown veal jus stands in; whisk in the minced cornichons off the heat so they keep their bite.
"Finish it the same as an Argentine"The instruction points to No. 2878, which is not reproduced here; look it up before proceeding. Where the chapter specifies, such finishing generally means the rolled omelet is dressed on the platter and the sauce poured around rather than over — which is what this recipe itself directs. Practically: slide it out seam-side down, brush with butter, and run it briefly under a hot broiler if you want the sheen.
Quantities the original omitsFor one omelet of this size, figure 4 to 5 eggs and about 1 oz butter. The filling comes to more than three ounces: the morels alone are two, before the tablespoonful of onion, the tuna and the ham — reckon 5 to 6 oz in all, serving two. Ranhofer assumed a cook who could judge this by eye.
Salt with restraintHam, marinated tuna and meat glaze are all salty. Season the filling, taste it, then salt the eggs barely at all.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its omelet chapter reads like an index of names, some of people and some of places: Bertini, Argentine, Bonvalet. Naming garnishes after people was standard practice in the classical French kitchen, and the dishes usually outlived any memory of why — the name Bonvalet is generally attached to a Parisian restaurateur and city official of the mid-nineteenth century, though the connection is traditional rather than documented in the book itself. What the recipe really shows is how a grand-restaurant kitchen worked: morels, marinated tunny, ham, glace de viande and espagnole were all standing components, so a dish of this apparent complexity could be assembled and sent out in the time it took to cook eggs. The cross-references to numbered recipes are the point — no home cook was expected to start from scratch.