No. 3061

Omelet Souffle-Light

Omelette Soufflee Legere

Put three spoonfuls of powdered sugar, four ounces of flour, a grain of salt and some lemon peel into a vessel, and dilute it first with ten egg-yolks, then with half a gill of raw cream, in order to obtain a paste the same consistency as a frying paste; incorporate into it six well-beaten whites and three-quarters of a pound of whipped cream. Have some melted butter in a large pan; when hot pour in the preparation and cook it the same as for an omelet souffle with preserves (No. 3065); when done to perfection slip it on a sheet of paper and strew over with sugar; roll it on itself, and dress on a dish; dredge more sugar over, and glaze in the oven or under a salamander (Fig. 123).

← No. 3060 Omelet Souffle, Ancient Style Hot Entremets — Puddings, Fritters & Soufflés No. 3062 Omelet Souffle with Almonds →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's "light" soufflé omelet is a pan-started, oven-finished sweet omelet rather than a baked soufflé, and the original leans on a cross-reference (No. 3065) for the actual cooking method. A few conversions and one structural warning will get you there.

The hinge: fold, do not stirThe six beaten whites and the whipped cream are what lift this; once they go in, work with a spatula in as few strokes as possible. A batter of ten yolks and four ounces of flour is heavy, and overmixing collapses the foam into a thick crepe that will never roll.
Half a gill of creamA gill is half a cup, so half a gill is 1/4 cup (60 ml) of raw — that is, unwhipped — cream. Ranhofer distinguishes it from the whipped cream added later.
Three-quarters of a pound of whipped creamThe weight is most easily read as cream measured before whipping: 12 oz is roughly 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups, which whips to something like double that volume. Whip only to soft peaks so it folds without breaking.
Spoonfuls and grains"Three spoonfuls of powdered sugar" is most plausibly read as tablespoons, so about 3 tbsp; a "grain of salt" is a pinch. Four ounces of flour is a weight, roughly 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp, or 115 g — measure it on a scale.
Lemon peelUse pared strips of zest with no pith and fish them out before folding in the whites, or grate the zest finely and leave it in; the recipe does not say which.
Consistency of a frying pasteThe target is a thick pouring batter, about the body of pancake batter, before the whites and cream go in. If the yolks and cream leave it stiff, loosen with a spoonful more cream rather than thinning it after the foam is added.
SalamanderThe salamander was a heated iron plate held over sugar to caramelize it. A broiler on high does the same job in under a minute; do not walk away, as the dusted sugar goes from glazed to burnt very quickly.
Yield and timingTen yolks and this much cream serve six to eight. Like all soufflé omelets it deflates within minutes, so have the dish, the sugar dredger and the diners ready before it leaves the oven.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's summation of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its enormous soufflé and entremets chapters reflect the French repertoire he brought with him. The omelette soufflée belongs to an older tradition than the modern baked soufflé: eggs whipped with sugar, cooked in a pan and puffed by their own foam, a dish French cooks were making well before the ramekin became standard. Ranhofer gives at least half a dozen versions in sequence — ancient style, with preserves, with almonds — each a variation on the same base, which is how the book generally works: a technique stated once and then rung through its changes. The instruction to glaze under a salamander is a reminder that this was restaurant cooking, written for a brigade with a rack of irons heating in the fire and a waiter standing by, since a soufflé omelet keeps its height for about the time it takes to carry it across a dining room.