No. 3062

Omelet Souffle with Almonds

Omelette Soufflee aux Amandes

For six persons. Beat up six egg-yolks, twelve shelled, skinned and crushed bitter almonds, and six teaspoonfuls of sugar in a bowl the same as for lady fingers; add the grated peel of a lemon and a grain of salt; as the preparation becomes light stir in delicately the beaten egg-whites, using a spoon, and cutting it with this. The mixture should now stand alone without any danger of sinking, then pour it into a long buttered plated dish, smooth the surface, shaping it like a large folded omelet, and push the dish into a well-heated but not too hot oven. As soon as the omelet begins to brown remove and split it lengthways through the center with a knife, being careful not to press too hard, then replace it in the oven and be careful to turn the dish around from time to time. Let cook for twenty-five minutes; cover with sugar before it is finished so that it can glaze, and when removed dredge over more sugar before serving.

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For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

This soufflé is flavoured with raw bitter almonds, which are not a food ingredient by modern standards. The points below explain why the recipe cannot be followed as printed.

Bitter almonds are the problemBitter almonds (the kernels of Prunus dulcis var. amara) contain amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide when the kernel is crushed and moistened — exactly what this recipe directs. Twelve crushed kernels stirred raw into a batter for six people is not a trace amount.
Baking does not make them safeBaking cannot be relied on to make them safe -- amygdalin breakdown begins the moment the crushed almonds meet moisture, and while heat drives off some of the hydrogen cyanide formed, a short bake in the 'well-heated but not too hot' oven the recipe calls for is not a controlled or reliable treatment.
They are not sold as foodRaw bitter almonds cannot legally be sold for eating in the United States and are restricted in many other countries. Jars sold under the name are often apricot kernels, which carry the same amygdalin risk and can contain more of it.
Sweet almonds are not a substitute in kindThey carry little of the benzaldehyde note, so swapping them in does not reproduce the dish so much as remove its flavouring. Anyone wanting this profile should use a current recipe built around a commercial almond extract, which supplies benzaldehyde without the glycoside.
What the rest of the method tells youThe 'bowl the same as for lady fingers' means yolks and sugar whipped to the ribbon; the 'long buttered plated dish' is a silver-plated oval service dish, so the soufflé goes to table in the vessel it baked in. The recipe gives no reason for the lengthwise split partway through baking, though it would let heat into the centre of a deep mixture -- read it as period technique, not as an instruction to follow here.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York for over thirty years, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially the house's working repertoire written down. Bitter almonds were a standard nineteenth-century flavouring across European and American confectionery — used in ratafias, macaroons, blancmanges and creams — because they were the cheapest route to the benzaldehyde aroma we now buy as almond extract. Their toxicity was known and discussed in the period. The gradual replacement of the kernel by manufactured extract over the early twentieth century is the reason a dish that once read as ordinary now reads as a hazard, and the oven-baked soufflé served in its own plated dish is a good marker of the restaurant style Ranhofer was recording: dressed for the dining room from the moment it left the range.