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Omelette, Plain
Carefully crack eight fresh eggs into a bowl, season with one-half teaspoon salt and two saltspoons white pepper, adding half gill of fresh milk. Sharply mix the whole with a fork for two minutes. Place in a black frying pan one good tablespoon clarified butter, and when the butter crackles drop in the eggs and with a fork stir well for two minutes, then let rest for half a minute. Fold up with the fork--the side nearest the handle first--to the centre of the omelette, then the opposite side, so that both sides will meet right in the centre; let rest for half minute. Have a hot dish in the left hand, take hold of the handle of the pan with the right, bring both dish and pan to a triangular shape, and with a rapid movement turn the omelette over the centre of the dish and immediately send to the table. Always make the omelettes on a brisk fire without taking the lid off.
A French rolled omelette scaled for a full pan of eight eggs. The technique is sound, but the measurements and the pan want translating.
- SaltspoonA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon, so two saltspoons is half a teaspoon of white pepper. That is assertive for eight eggs; a quarter teaspoon suits most modern palates.
- Half a gillA gill is half a cup, so half a gill is a quarter cup of milk. That is a generous but workable amount for eight eggs and gives a softer, looser curd.
- The black frying panThis means a well-seasoned carbon steel or cast iron pan, black from use rather than any particular manufacture. A 10 to 12 inch pan is the right size for eight eggs; anything smaller and the omelette sets too thick to roll.
- Clarified butterSpecified because it takes the brisk heat without the milk solids browning and speckling the eggs. Whole butter works if you keep the pan a shade cooler, or use ghee.
- Brisk fireMedium-high on a modern burner. The pan should be hot enough that the eggs set on contact at the edges while you are still stirring the centre.
- The lidNo lid is used anywhere in the method, and the closing line is a stray instruction, probably about not lifting the pan off the heat mid-cook. Keep the pan on the burner throughout; the whole cooking time is under five minutes.
- The hingeThe half-minute rest after stirring is what makes the roll possible. It lets the base film over into a skin that will hold the fold; skip it and the omelette tears as you bring the sides in.
- DonenessA French omelette is pulled while the interior is still glossy and slightly runny, since it carries on setting on the hot dish. If it is dry in the pan it will be rubbery at the table.
- YieldEight eggs makes one large omelette serving three to four, cut across at the table. For individual omelettes, work in batches of two or three eggs in a smaller pan.
The rolled or folded omelette described here is the standard French restaurant form, distinct from the flat, firm omelette of Spain and Italy that is cooked through and turned. The insistence on a black iron pan, clarified butter and a brisk fire is of a piece with cooking an omelette fast and serving it still soft inside. The instruction to bring pan and dish together at an angle and roll the omelette over rather than lifting it is still how it is taught today.