And we are back to the Harvey House this month! I’m not going to lie, I tried to pick a simple recipe due to being nine months pregnant, but made the mistake of thinking four ingredients meant simplicity. Okay, it wasn’t that bad…just involved a lot of arm muscle work. Good thing I had a husband on hand! According to the cookbook, this was served on the California Limited, which began running in 1892. Oh, and don’t forget to check out the short Instagram version of this recipe.
Potato Soufflé
The Harvey House Cookbook
1890s
Step One: Boil potatoes, then “pass them through a sieve.” So simple. So straightforward. Except I’d like you to know that pressing the potatoes through a fine mesh strainer is A LOT OF WORK. I made it through most of scoop before passing the work off to Daniel.
Step Two: Scald “half a teacup” of milk and the butter, then add to the potatoes with salt, pepper, and “beat to a cream.” Thanks to Daniel’s hard work pressing all those potatoes through the sieve, beating to a cream actually wasn’t half as hard as I expected. It whipped together surprisingly fast.
Step Three: After separating four eggs, beat in egg yolks one at a time – by the time I reached the fourth egg, my arm was done. I made Daniel take over.
Step Four: Whip the egg whites…oh, my goodness. Did these people have nothing to do but beat things? I actually managed to whip them to stiff peaks myself this time, giving Daniel’s arms a break…likely due to the beater I used. Then add into the potato mixture “beating as little as possible”.
Step Five: Bake in “brisk” oven. 400 degrees worked well the last couple times I decided that was what brisk meant, so I stuck with it, and it seemed to be the perfect temperature. I pulled it out at a golden brown and it was cooked through, fluffy, and ready to see what my husband thought!
Verdict:
It was actually pretty good! It was light and fluffy – a good souffle texture – but definitely needed more salt and dairy, whether that was milk, butter, or both. Since this was served on a train, though, I would imagine, they purposefully limited the dairy products so as to not run out. I would definitely make this again…but using modern implements to save on arm muscles and adding more milk, butter, AND salt, since I’m not trying to save ingredients on a train.
Have you made potato souffle before?
Forest Idylls 