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Omelets
N making an omelet the pan must be dry, hot and smooth; the least roughness will cause the omelet to stick. To IN make sure of these necessities heat a bit of lard or suet in a clean pan, simmer for a few minutes, then remove it, and wipe the pan dry with a towel. A great many dishes can be made from the simple, plain omelet, not only for breakfast uses but also for desserts at dinner. Most of the additions are made to the omelet just before it is folded and while the top is moist and readily receives the different ingredients.
PLAIN OMELET (Baked) - For a family of five, allow five eggs. Beat the whites to a stiff froth on a large plate; place the yolks in a good-sized earthenware cake bowl, and beat them well, adding a spoonful of the beaten whites to make them more frothy. Turn the whites into the bowl containing the yolks, adding onehalf teaspoon of salt and a very little pepper, and mix all well together. Place a tablespoon of butter in a frying-pan, or an omelet pan, and when quite hot, so that the butter is commencing to brown, turn in the eggs. Do not keep them in this heat more than one minute; then set the pan on the top grate in a hot oven to finish the cooking. If the oven is at the right heat, the omelet should be done in five minutes. Take the pan out, slip a knife under the omelet to loosen it on all sides, fold one side upon the other, and send at once to the table.
A soufflé-style baked omelet: whites beaten separately, set briefly on the burner, then finished in the oven. The method still works, with a few translations.
- The hinge is the one minute on the flameThe eggs go into browning butter only long enough to set the bottom into a base the puff can rise from. Left longer, the underside toughens and colours before the oven ever gets it, and the fold cracks.
- "A hot oven"Read that as roughly 400-425F; period usage gives no closer figure. "Top grate" means the upper rack. Five minutes is plausible for five eggs in a pan of about 9 or 10 inches; check at four.
- The pan must be oven-safeA modern non-stick skillet with a plastic or composite handle cannot go to 425F. Use cast iron, carbon steel, or a fully metal-handled pan. Wrap a bare metal handle in a towel when you pull it out, and remember it stays hot.
- Seasoning the pan with lard or suetThe book's preliminary — heat fat, simmer, tip out, wipe dry — is how you tame an un-seasoned iron pan so eggs release. With a well-seasoned or non-stick surface it is unnecessary; the tablespoon of butter is enough.
- Folding the whitesAdding a spoonful of beaten white to the yolks loosens them so the rest incorporates without deflating. Note that the original says to 'mix all well together'; modern practice would fold rather than beat once the whites go in, and stop while a few streaks remain.
- DonenessThe omelet is ready when the centre is set but still moist and trembling; it will carry on cooking for a minute off the heat. Baked past dry it collapses and weeps.
- Yield and servingFive eggs is a light course for four or a substantial one for two or three, not really a meal for five by current appetites. Serve immediately — the puff falls within a minute or two, which is why the original says "send at once to the table."
- AdditionsWhere the text says fillings go on "while the top is moist," that means just before folding: grated cheese, chopped herbs, cooked mushrooms, or for the dessert versions jam or sweetened fruit. Anything raw and wet should be cooked down first.
The distinction the Butterick book takes for granted hat* rrather than stirred on the stove — separates two traditions that were both current around 1900. The French *omelette baveuse* is cooked entirely in the pan and rolled while still runny; the puffed or soufflé omelet, with whites whipped separately and the pan finished in the oven, was taught alongside it in American and English household manuals of the period, often in the same book. The instruction to season the pan with lard or suet and wipe it dry belongs to an era before reliable non-stick surfaces. Butterick's note that the omelet suits "desserts at dinner" as well as breakfast reflects a then-common practice of serving a sweetened omelet with preserves as a light final course — a habit that seems to have receded from English-speaking kitchens while remaining more familiar in French home cooking.