No. 2898

Omelet a la Andrews

Omelette a la Andrews

Have a chicken hash prepared as for No. 2292; with it fill a slightly cooked omelet prepared the same as an Argentine (No. 2878); invert it on a dish that may be placed in the oven. Roll some noodle paste (No. 142) out very thin; allow it to dry a little in the air, roll it on itself to facilitate mincing it finely, then boil in salted water, drain and replace it in the saucepan with milk, white pepper, salt, nutmeg and butter; let simmer for twenty minutes so that nearly all the milk is absorbed, then cover the omelet with these noodles, bestrew with bread-crumbs and parmesan cheese, sprinkle butter over and let brown in a hot oven; pour around a little bigarde sauce (No. 435).

← No. 2897 Kidney Omelet Eggs & Omelets No. 2899 Mushroom or Sweetbread Omelet →

For the Modern Kitchen

A Delmonico's composed egg dish: a barely-set omelet stuffed with chicken hash, then blanketed in milk-braised noodles and gratinated. The hinge is timing — the omelet is deliberately underdone because it finishes in the oven under the gratin.

Cross-referencesThe original assumes four other numbers from the same book: a chicken hash, an omelet method, noodle paste, and bigarade sauce. Any cooked chicken hash bound with a little cream or velouté will serve, and the noodle paste is plain fresh egg pasta dough.
"Slightly cooked omelet"Roll the omelet while the interior is still visibly loose and glossy. It will set further under the gratin, and an omelet cooked to firmness at the pan stage comes out of the oven dry and squeaky.
Cutting the noodlesRolling the sheet into a cylinder and slicing across it is the standard way to get fine noodles by hand. Letting the sheet dry "a little" means until leathery but still flexible — fully dried dough cracks when rolled.
The twenty-minute simmerThe recipe already calls for the paste rolled very thin and minced finely, so watch the pot rather than the clock: boil such noodles only briefly, and stop the milk simmer once the milk is absorbed and creamy rather than waiting out the full twenty minutes until the noodles collapse.
"Bestrew" and the gratinBestrew is simply to scatter over. Breadcrumbs, parmesan and dotted butter, then what the book calls a hot oven; in a modern range that is somewhere in the region of 425 to 450F, and you are baking only until the top is browned, or under a broiler if the omelet is already hot and you only want colour.
Bigarade sauceBigarade is the bitter Seville orange; Ranhofer's sauce is generally a brown sauce sharpened with its juice and blanched zest. Sweet orange juice with a squeeze of lemon approximates it if Sevilles are out of season.
VesselsAn ovenproof platter or shallow gratin dish is needed, since the omelet is inverted onto the serving dish and then baked on it.
YieldNot stated, and no egg count is given here; it depends on the omelet you build from No. 2878. On a three- or four-egg omelet it would plausibly serve two as a lunch dish.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of some three decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its thousands of numbered recipes are cross-linked exactly as this one is — a working kitchen's index rather than a book meant to be read straight through. Naming dishes after patrons, performers and public figures was common at that restaurant, and "à la Andrews" may well honour a customer; the book does not record who. What is more revealing is the construction: an omelet treated not as a quick dish but as a base for a gratin, layered with hash, milk-braised noodles, parmesan and a bitter-orange sauce — three separately prepared components meeting on one platter, with only the final browning happening at the last minute.