Plain Omelet
4 eggs 1/2 teaspoon salt Few grains pepper 4 tablespoons hot water 1 tablespoon butter 1 1/2 cups Thin White Sauce Separate yolks from whites. To yolks add salt, pepper, and hot water and beat until thick and lemon-colored. Beat whites until stiff, cutting and folding them into first mixture until they have taken up mixture. Heat omelet pan, and butter sides and bottom. Turn in mixture, spread evenly, place on range where it will cook slowly, occasionally turning the pan that omelet may brown evenly. When well "puffed" and delicately browned underneath, place pan on centre grate of oven to finish cooking the top. The omelet is cooked if it is firm to the touch when pressed by the finger. If it clings to the finger like the beaten white of egg, it needs longer cooking. Fold, and turn on hot platter, and pour around one and one-half cups Thin White Sauce. Milk is sometimes used in place of hot water, but hot water makes a more tender omelet. A few grains baking powder are used by some cooks to hold up an omelet.
This is a puffed or souffléd omelet rather than the folded French kind: the whites are whipped separately and the whole thing finishes in the oven. Treat it as a small soufflé that starts on the stovetop.
- The hinge: fold, do not stirOnce the whites are stiff, cut and fold them into the yolk mixture just until no large streaks remain. Beating them in collapses the foam and the omelet will cook flat and leathery instead of puffing.
- Oven heatThe recipe gives no temperature, only 'centre grate of oven' to finish the top. A moderate oven (in the region of 350F) is a reasonable modern reading; watch it rather than time it, as the top needs only a few minutes once the underside is browned.
- Cook it slowly on the rangeThe recipe insists on slow cooking; medium-low on a modern burner. No time is given, so judge by the puff and the browning underneath. High heat sets and browns the bottom before the interior has any chance to rise.
- The panAn omelet pan meant a heavy iron or steel skillet with sloping sides, roughly 8 to 10 inches for four eggs, and it must be ovenproof. A nonstick or well-seasoned cast-iron skillet of that size works; avoid anything with a plastic handle.
- Thin White SauceA thin white sauce of this period is typically around 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon flour cooked together per cup of milk, seasoned with salt; check the book's own sauce entry. The recipe calls for one and a half cups, which is a generous pour by modern taste.
- Hot water versus milkThe instruction is sound. Water thins the yolks without adding protein or fat, giving a lighter, more tender set; milk makes a denser, slightly custardy omelet.
- The baking powder noteA pinch does add insurance against collapse, but it can leave a faint metallic taste. Properly beaten whites and prompt serving do the same job.
- Doneness and timingThe finger test is reliable: firm and dry to the touch, not tacky. Serve immediately, as a puffed omelet begins to sink within a minute or two of leaving the oven.
- YieldFour eggs serves two as a main dish or three as part of a larger meal.