No. 2806

Potatoes in the Shape of an Omelet

Pommes de Terre en Forme d'Omelette

Boil a few raw, peeled potatoes in salt and water; when cooked drain off the water, and let steam for five or six minutes; invert them on a clean cloth to dry all the moisture, and return them to a pan containing melted butter; fry for two minutes, then break by chopping them up with an iron palette until well crumbled, adding a little melted butter from time to time; season; brown nicely while tossing incessantly; lastly bring the potatoes to the front of the pan to have them all together, and shape the mass like a folded omelet; color it nicely, adding a little more butter, and invert it on a small long dish.

Another Way is to peel boiled cold potatoes; chop them up or else cut them in small three-sixteenths of an inch cubes; saute them in a pan with clarified butter, season with salt and chopped parsley and let color nicely, tossing them unceasingly; bring the preparation forward to the front of the pan, assemble it together, and shape it like a folded omelet; color, adding a little more butter, and when finely browned drain off the fat and turn it over as an omelet on a long dish.

← No. 2805 Potatoes Sauted with Artichoke Bottoms and T Potatoes & Sweet Potatoes No. 2807 Potato Shavings →

For the Modern Kitchen

Two routes to the same thing: a butter-fried potato cake folded and turned out like an omelet. The technique is unfussy but unforgiving about moisture and pan choice.

The hinge: dry the potatoesThe steaming and the turn onto a cloth are not optional flourishes. Wet potato steams rather than browns, and the mass will never hold its folded shape. Give the drained potatoes five or six minutes uncovered off the heat, then let the surface dry completely before they meet the butter.
Which potatoRanhofer does not specify. A floury potato (russet, King Edward) crumbles readily for the first method; for the diced second version a waxy or all-purpose potato holds its cubes and colors better.
Iron paletteA stiff metal spatula or a bench scraper. The point is to chop and break the potatoes in the pan rather than mash them, so keep the edge and use it on the pan floor.
Clarified butterCalled for in the second method and worth using in both. Whole butter's milk solids scorch well before the potatoes are properly browned; clarified butter, or butter with a spoonful of neutral oil, carries the higher heat.
PanA well-seasoned carbon steel or cast iron skillet, 8 to 10 inches, sloped sides. Nonstick will release the cake but will not build the crust the recipe is after.
"Fry for two minutes"That is the initial contact with the butter before chopping, not the total cooking. Expect 10 to 15 minutes of tossing and browning after that, over medium to medium-high heat.
Dice sizeThree-sixteenths of an inch falls midway between an eighth and a quarter of an inch, about 5 mm. Cut them evenly; uneven dice give you scorched corners around underdone centers.
Shaping and turning outBring the mass to the front of the pan as the recipe says, press it into a half-moon with the spatula, and let it sit undisturbed a minute or two to set the crust before inverting. Drain the fat first, as the second method directs, or it will run over the dish.
YieldRanhofer gives no quantities: 'a few' potatoes, with butter added a little at a time. As a working guide, something like 1.5 lb of potatoes would make one omelet-sized cake for two or three as a side.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York for over thirty years, and The Epicurean (1894) is his attempt to set down the whole repertoire, some 3,500 numbered entries, in the encyclopedic French manner. This one belongs to a long run of potato preparations, each a small variation on frying, sauteing or shaping, and it shows how much of nineteenth-century restaurant cooking was about presentation: the potatoes are the same fried potatoes served everywhere, but gathered and folded so they arrive at the table looking like an omelet on a long dish. The trick of shaping a saute in the curve of the pan and rolling it out is the same motion a cook uses for a true omelet. Ranhofer gives two methods, one starting from freshly boiled potatoes and one from cold.