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Petits Souffles of Fish, Signorita
Entirely free one and a half pounds fresh halibut or codfish from skin and bones, cut the meat into very small pieces, place it in a mortar and pound sharply for five minutes. Add one egg yolk, mix briskly with spatula for a minute, add another yolk, sharply stir for another minute, then add yolk of another egg and mix until well amalgamated. Remove force from mortar, rub it through sieve into a bowl, set bowl on ice, add one finely chopped truffle, six anchovies in oil cut in short pieces, one light teaspoon salt, two saltspoons cayenne pepper, one saltspoon grated nutmeg, two tablespoons cream, one tablespoon sherry, and sharply stir with spoon for five minutes. Beat up whites of the three eggs to a stiff froth, add to preparation and gently mix all together. Fill six round paper cases with this preparation, nicely smooth surface with lightly buttered knife blade, sprinkle over a little grated Parmesan cheese, arrange cases on a tin and set in oven for twenty-five minutes. Remove, dress on a dish with folded napkin, decorate with a little parsley greens and serve immediately.
A classic Escoffier-era fish soufflé built on a pounded forcemeat rather than a béchamel base. The original gives no oven temperature, so that is the first thing to settle.
- Oven temperatureNo heat is specified; a souffle of this type wants a moderate oven, around 350F. Twenty-five minutes is in the right range for small individual cases — the tops should be set and lightly puffed, with no liquid wobble at the centre.
- "Force" and the mortar"Force" is short for forcemeat, the pounded fish paste. A food processor does the pounding in under a minute; pulse rather than run it, and keep the bowl cold. If you use the processor, the sieving step can be reduced to a quick press through a medium sieve to catch stray sinew.
- SaltspoonsA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon. So two saltspoons cayenne is a half teaspoon across six small soufflés — assertive by modern taste. Start with a quarter teaspoon if you are unsure.
- Paper casesThese are the stiff round paper cases sold for individual souffles and timbales. Buttered individual ramekins behave identically and are easier to handle; a paper case will slump if the mixture is loose. The original arranges the cases on a tin.
- Truffle and anchovyA fresh black truffle is a large expense for six small moulds; a teaspoon of chopped preserved truffle or truffle peelings gives the same purpose, which is aroma rather than bulk. The anchovies are oil-packed fillets, not paste, and they carry most of the salt — taste before adding the full teaspoon.
- Folding the whitesThe hinge of the dish. The fish forcemeat is dense and cold, so lighten it with a spoonful of the whites first, then fold in the rest in two additions. Overworking at this stage gives a heavy, rubbery soufflé that never rises.
- Yield and serviceSix individual soufflés, intended as a first course rather than a main. They collapse within a few minutes of leaving the oven, which is why the original insists on serving immediately.
This comes from Alexander Filippini's The International Cook Book (1906), written by a former Delmonico's man in New York, and it shows the house style of the period: a French kitchen technique dressed up with a decorative name. "Signorita" is a garnish label of the sort restaurant cooks attached to variations on a standard preparation — here a fish forcemeat lifted with whipped whites — rather than a dish with a traceable origin. The technique itself is the old farce de poisson of the professional kitchen, where lean white fish was pounded in a marble mortar with egg and cream until it could be moulded, the same base that produces quenelles and fish mousselines. The instruction calls for pounding by hand for minutes at a stretch, and such recipes survived in domestic books of the 1900s.