Cheese Omelet
4 eggs 4 tablespoons milk 1/4 pound cheese or less Red pepper and salt 1 tablespoon butter Beat the whites and yolks of the eggs separately; stir them together; then add the milk. Place the butter in a frying-pan over the fire, and when it is hot pour the mixture in, sprinkling it with salt and red pepper. Then add the cheese, which should be grated or broken into small pieces. Brown the omelet carefully; fold over and serve, garnished with olives or parsley. It is better if the cheese does not melt, but is simply heated through.
A puffed, separately beaten omelet of the kind that filled American cookbooks around 1900. The instructions are workable as written; a few conventions need translating.
- Red pepperThis means cayenne, not paprika or a fresh bell pepper. A pinch is enough for four eggs.
- The cheeseA quarter pound is 4 oz, which is generous for four eggs — the "or less" is sound advice. A firm cheddar or a dry aged cheese holds its shape best, which is what the last line is after.
- Why the cheese should not meltAdding it late and cooking briefly keeps the curd intact so it stays in distinct pockets rather than weeping fat into the eggs. If you want a molten omelet instead, add the cheese earlier and off the heat, and expect a greasier result.
- Beating the whites separatelyFold rather than stir the whites into the yolks, and cook immediately — the foam begins collapsing within a couple of minutes. This is the hinge of the recipe; a deflated mixture gives a flat, tough omelet.
- Pan and heatAn 8- to 9-inch nonstick or well-seasoned skillet over medium heat. "Over the fire" means direct heat, not high heat; a puffed omelet browns before it sets if the pan is too hot.
- "Brown the omelet carefully"Cook until the underside is set and lightly coloured and the top is still slightly damp, roughly 3 to 4 minutes. Fold in half and slide out; it will finish on the plate.
- YieldServes two as a main course, three or four as part of a larger breakfast.
Egg cookery took up whole chapters in turn-of-the-century American manuals. This is the older "puffy" or "souffléd" omelet, made by beating whites and yolks apart, which competed for decades with the French rolled omelet in English-language cookbooks. The instruction that the cheese be merely heated through reflects a period preference for cheese as a distinct textured element in a dish rather than a sauce — the same logig behind the era's cheese straws and cheese soufflés.