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Raisin Nut Omelet
5 eggs 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup boiling water 1/2 tablespoon Argo or Kings ford's Cornstarch 1/2 cup soft raisins, halved 1/4 cup chopped nutmeats, plain or salted 1 tablespoon Mazola Powdered sugar Separate the eggs. Beat the whites stiff, the yolks till lemon colored. Add the cornstarch, water and salt to the yolks and stir in the raisins and nuts. Fold in the whites, pour into a frying-pan in which the Mazola has been heated and cook until browned, , lifting occasionally around the edges allowing the uncooked por tion to precipitate. Place in the oven to "set," fold over, and transfer to a platter.
This is a puffy or soufflé omelet — the whites are beaten separately and the cornstarch gives the yolks enough body to hold the air. The original assumes a cast-iron skillet that can go from burner to oven.
- Brand namesArgo and Kingsford's are cornstarch; any plain cornstarch works. Mazola is corn oil, so a tablespoon of neutral oil or butter is a direct substitute — butter will brown the underside faster.
- The hinge: do not deflate the whitesFold the whites into the yolk mixture in two or three additions with a spatula, stopping while streaks are still faintly visible. Overmixing here is the only thing that will reliably ruin the dish, since the eggs are the sole leavening.
- Oven temperatureThe recipe gives none. A moderate oven, around 350F, for something on the order of 8 to 12 minutes should do it; the omelet is set when the centre no longer wobbles as a liquid and a knife inserted at the edge comes out clean.
- Pan and burner heatUse an ovenproof 10-inch skillet over medium-low heat. High heat browns the base before the interior has any chance to set, and a puffy omelet that browns hard will taste scorched.
- "Precipitate"An odd usage — it means the same thing as the familiar instruction to lift the cooked edge and let the raw egg run underneath. Do this only in the first minute or two, before the batter sets up.
- Soft raisinsThe recipe specifies soft raisins. If yours are dry, cover them in hot water or a little sherry for ten minutes and drain well; wet raisins will weep into the eggs.
- NutsWalnuts, pecans or almonds all suit. If you use salted nuts, as the recipe permits, cut the added salt to a scant quarter teaspoon.
- Yield and servingFive eggs feed two generously or three modestly. Serve immediately — a puffy omelet begins to collapse within a few minutes of leaving the oven. The powdered sugar is listed without any instruction; dusting it over the top at the table is the obvious reading.
This comes from a promotional cookbook published by the Corn Products Refining Company, the maker of Argo and Kingsford's cornstarch and Mazola oil, and the recipes exist to demonstrate the company's three products in as many contexts as possible — hence cornstarch in an omelet, where a French cook would use none. Corporate cookbooks of this kind were a staple of American food publishing from the 1890s onward, given away or sold for a few cents, and they did real work in teaching home cooks to think in branded ingredients. The dish itself is a sweet puffy omelet, a form generally traced to the French omelette soufflée, which reached American cookbooks in the nineteenth century and was often served as a light supper or dessert rather than at breakfast.