No. 3066

Omelet Souffle with Vanilla

Omelette Soufflee a la Vanille

Place six egg-yolks in a bowl with three ounces of powdered sugar and an ounce of vanilla sugar (No. 3165); beat well with a whip until it becomes as light as for biscuits; also beat up twelve whites to a stiff froth and mix them in slowly with the others, then dress a part of this preparation in a pyramid form on a lightly buttered dish, leaving a hollow in the center; pour the remainder into a pocket furnished with a socket and decorate the surface of the omelet prettily; sugar it over and bake in a hot oven for eight or ten minutes, serving it as soon as it is done, or it may be dressed on a long dish and split lengthways through the center with the blade of a knife so as to make two pieces of it, then cook as above.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A free-standing soufflé baked on a flat dish rather than in a mould, which means it depends entirely on the stiffness of the whites and on being served the moment it leaves the oven. Nothing about it can be prepared ahead.

The hinge: dress and bake at onceThere is no mould or collar to support this mixture, so it holds its pyramid only while the whites are at full volume. Pipe and bake within a few minutes of folding, and carry it to the table straight from the oven — like any soufflé it starts to settle soon after it leaves the heat.
"A hot oven"The book gives no temperatures; a hot oven is conventionally taken as somewhere around 425-450F. The high heat sets the outside quickly and drives the rise; a moderate oven will leave you with a sweet omelette that spreads instead of climbing. Eight to ten minutes should suit at that heat — the center should still be soft.
Sugar quantitiesRanhofer's "powdered" sugar is finely ground white sugar, not modern confectioners' sugar with its cornstarch, so superfine (caster) sugar is the closer match. Measured that way, three ounces is roughly 6 tablespoons and the additional ounce of vanilla sugar about 2 tablespoons.
Vanilla sugar (No. 3165)In the book this is sugar pounded and sifted with vanilla beans. A split bean left in a jar of sugar for a week does the same thing; failing that, use plain sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract added to the yolks.
"A pocket furnished with a socket"A pastry bag fitted with a tip — Ranhofer's usual phrasing. A star tip of ½ inch or so suits the decoration; anything finer will deflate the whites as you force them through.
Twelve whites to six yolksThe doubled whites are deliberate. Fold in no more than three additions and stop while streaks are still faintly visible; a fully homogeneous batter has already lost its lift.
The dishUse an ovenproof metal or earthenware platter, buttered lightly and no more — a heavy film of butter makes the base slide and spread. Dusting the surface with sugar before baking gives the light crust the original intends.
YieldSix yolks and twelve whites make a substantial soufflé, enough for something like six as a dessert course. Serve it with two spoons, cutting down through the crust rather than scooping from the edge.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially that restaurant's working repertoire set down in print. The omelette soufflée is a nineteenth-century French restaurant piece rather than a home dish: it is not an omelette in any pan sense but a sweetened egg foam baked free-standing on a platter, piped into a shape and rushed to the table before it falls. Its appeal was partly theatrical — a dessert that could only be produced by a kitchen close enough to the dining room to serve it within a minute, and that therefore advertised the establishment's organisation as much as its cooking. The vanilla version is the plainest of the family; the neighbouring numbers in this section fill or glaze it with preserves. Vanilla itself was still an expensive flavouring, bought as beans and pounded with sugar to make the vanilla sugar called for here, which is why the recipe treats an ounce of it as a distinct and countable ingredient.