No. 2900

Onion and Ham Omelet

Omelette aux Oignons et au-Jambon

Mince finely four ounces of white onions (new ones if in season); fry them slowly in butter or oil, stirring until they become tender and lightly colored, then add two ounces of cooked lean ham cut in one-eighth inch squares; drain off the whole. Break eight eggs in a bowl, season with salt, pepper and a little sugar; beat them up well and run through a colander, then add the onion, the ham and some chopped parsley. Heat a little butter in a pan, pour the eggs in and make the omelet over a hot fire without ceasing to stir, keeping it mellow; fold over and turn it with one stroke on a long dish; decorate with strings of tomato sauce (No. 549) put on with a brush.

← No. 2899 Mushroom or Sweetbread Omelet Eggs & Omelets No. 2901 Oyster Omelet →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's omelet is a French rolled omelet, not a folded American diner one, and the whole recipe hinges on constant motion over high heat. Everything else is preparation.

The hinge: keep it moving"Without ceasing to stir, keeping it mellow" means agitating the eggs with a fork or spatula while shaking the pan, so the curd stays fine and the interior remains soft. Stop stirring and you get a flat, set pancake rather than the loose, custardy roll intended.
Quantities and yieldFour ounces of onion is roughly one medium onion, two ounces of ham about a third of a cup diced. Eight eggs makes a large omelet for three or four; if your pan is under 10 inches, split it into two omelets of four eggs each rather than crowding one.
Running the eggs through a colanderThis is straining, not draining — it catches chalazae and unbeaten white so the omelet is uniform. A fine sieve does the job better than a colander. Do it before the onion and ham go in.
"A little sugar"A pinch, no more — perhaps a quarter teaspoon for eight eggs. It reads as seasoning to round the onion rather than to sweeten the omelet.
Cook the onion properly firstSlow frying until tender and lightly colored takes 10 to 15 minutes over medium-low heat. Raw or half-cooked onion in an omelet that spends 90 seconds in the pan will stay harsh and crunchy.
Drain, then cool"Drain off the whole" means shedding the fat so the omelet does not turn greasy. Let the mixture cool to warm before adding it to the eggs, or it will begin setting them in the bowl.
Turning it outRolling it "with one stroke" onto the platter is done by tilting the pan away from you, folding the far edge over with the fork, and inverting in one motion. A nonstick or well-seasoned carbon steel pan makes this achievable; anything else will fight you.
The tomato sauce decorationNo. 549 is Ranhofer's tomato sauce, cross-referenced from elsewhere in the book and here brushed on in thin lines. Any thick tomato sauce, loosened slightly and applied with a pastry brush or squeeze bottle, gives the same effect. It is garnish, not a pool of sauce.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) was Charles Ranhofer's summary of his decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its egg chapter is essentially a French professional's catalogue: dozens of numbered omelets differing only in garnish, cross-referenced to sauces elsewhere in the book. That numbering system is the tell — this is a kitchen reference for cooks who already knew how to make an omelet and needed to know what went in it tonight. The onion-and-ham combination is unglamorous, a thrifty way to extend eggs, but Ranhofer dresses it for the dining room with a strained egg mixture, precise eighth-inch dice, and painted lines of tomato sauce. The parenthetical preference for "new ones if in season" points to young, freshly harvested onions rather than storage ones.