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Parsley Omelet
Break two eggs in a basin, put one tablespoonful of milk with them and beat up, mixing thoroughly but not making too light; add a little salt and a tablespoonful of finely-chopped parsley while beating. Put one tablespoonful of clarified butter in a small omelet-pan and when boiling put in the omelet preparation; when partly set run the point of a knife round to loosen it and shake the omelet over to the farther side of the pan until the thin edge, forced upward, falls back into the omelet. When nicely browned underneath and the middle nearly set, roll the brown side uppermost by the aid of a knife and slide the omelet onto a hot dish. Serve at once.
A two-egg French rolled omelet, cooked fast in a small pan and served the moment it leaves the heat. Everything depends on pan size and speed.
- Pan sizeTwo eggs suit a small pan, of the order of 7 to 8 inches. A much wider pan spreads the eggs thin and makes them harder to roll.
- Clarified butterThe recipe specifies it because whole butter's milk solids scorch at the heat required here. Melt butter gently, skim the foam and pour off the clear fat, leaving the milky residue behind; or use ghee.
- "When boiling"Clarified butter does not boil, but it will shimmer and just begin to smell nutty. That is the moment to pour, over medium-high heat. A cool pan gives a pale, leathery omelet.
- Do not overbeat"Not making too light" is the hinge. Beat only until yolk and white are combined, perhaps twenty seconds. Whipped-in air makes the omelet souffle and then collapse rubbery.
- ParsleyChopped fine and squeezed dry in a cloth. Wet parsley waters the eggs and works against browning.
- TimingFrom pour to plate is under two minutes. The center should still be visibly moist when you roll it; carryover heat finishes it on the hot dish.
- YieldOne omelet, one serving. Make them one at a time rather than scaling up the batter.
The rolled omelet Oscar describes is the standard French restaurant form, distinct from the flat, folded-over omelet common in American home cooking of the same period. Its defining feature is that the eggs are loosened and the omelet shaken over rather than left to set hard, so the finished roll is browned outside and barely set within, a technique that suited a hotel kitchen able to cook to order. Parsley is among the mildest of the fines herbes group, and parsley omelets appear alongside cheese, ham, mushroom and kidney versions. Oscar Tschirky, who ran the Waldorf dining rooms from the 1890s, published his book in 1896, and many entries read as terse method notes rather than domestic instruction.