Rich Omelet
2 1/2 tablespoons flour 1 cup milk 3/4 teaspoon salt 3 eggs 3 tablespoons butter Mrs. E. A. Dwinell Mix salt and flour, and add gradually milk. Beat eggs until thick and lemon-colored, then add to first mixture. Heat iron frying-pan and put in two-thirds of the butter; when butter is melted, pour in mixture. As it cooks, lift with a griddle-cake turner so that uncooked part may run underneath; add remaining butter as needed, and continue lifting the cooked part until it is firm throughout. Place on hotter part of range to brown; roll, and turn on hot platter.
This is a French-style rolled omelet enriched with a thin flour-and-milk batter, which gives it more body than a plain egg omelet and makes it far more forgiving of a hot pan.
- Mix the batter smooth firstWhisk the salt into the flour dry, then add the milk in a slow stream, or the flour will lump and the lumps will not cook out. A few seconds with a whisk after the eggs go in is worth the trouble.
- Whole eggs, not separated"Beat eggs until thick and lemon-colored" is the language usually applied to yolks, but the recipe calls for whole eggs and there is no folding step. Beat all three together until pale and frothy, about two minutes by hand.
- Pan sizeThree eggs plus a cup of milk is a generous amount of liquid for a small pan. Use a well-seasoned or nonstick skillet of 9 to 10 inches so the mixture sits roughly a third of an inch deep.
- Heat, in numbersMedium heat, no higher, for the lifting stage. The "hotter part of the range" at the end presumably means a brief turn over medium-high to color the underside; a minute or so should be enough.
- The lifting techniqueLifting the set edges so the raw batter runs underneath is the hinge of the recipe. Keep the mixture moving until it is set but still glossy on top; if you cook it dry it will crack rather than roll.
- ButterTwo-thirds of the butter goes in at the start, and the recipe adds the rest "as needed" as it cooks. Three tablespoons total is not excessive for a pan this size.
- Rolling outTip the pan away from you, fold the near third over, and roll the omelet onto the platter so the seam sits underneath. A warmed platter matters, as this omelet cools quickly.
- YieldServes two as a main course or three as part of a breakfast. It does not hold; serve it as soon as it leaves the pan.