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Plain Omelet
4 eggs 1/8 teaspoon pepper 3/4 cup milk 1/2 tablespoon Mazola 1 tablespoon Argo or Kingsford's Cornstarch 3/4 teaspoon salt Separate the eggs. Beat the whites stiff and the yolks till creamy. Add the cornstarch, salt, pepper and milk to the yolks, fold into the whites, turn into a medium-sized frying pan in which the Mazola has been heated, and cook until brown on the bottom, lifting occasionally around the edges. Place in the oven to "set" the top, fold over and serve.
A puffed or "foamy" omelet rather than a French rolled one: the whites are beaten separately and the cornstarch keeps the foam from collapsing. Everything depends on handling the beaten whites gently.
- The hinge: fold, do not stirOnce the yolk mixture goes into the whites, use a spatula and as few strokes as possible, stopping while streaks are still visible. Stirring knocks out the air and the omelet cooks flat and rubbery instead of rising.
- MazolaCorn oil, then as now. Half a tablespoon is barely enough to film a pan; use a scant tablespoon in anything but a well-seasoned or nonstick skillet.
- Argo or Kingsford's cornstarchPlain cornstarch. It is doing the same job as the flour in a soufflé base, binding the milk so the foam holds. Whisk it into the yolks with a little of the milk first so it does not stay lumpy.
- Milk quantityThree-quarters of a cup to four eggs is a very loose batter by modern standards, and the finished omelet will be soft and custardy rather than firm. Half a cup gives a sturdier result if you want to lift and fold it cleanly.
- Pan size"medium-sized" is not defined in the book; roughly 8 to 9 inches suits this quantity. Anything wider spreads the batter too thin to puff; anything narrower will not set through before the bottom colors.
- Heat and the oven stepCook over medium-low heat for 4 to 6 minutes, until set at the edges and lightly browned underneath. The book gives no temperature for the oven; 350F for 3 to 5 minutes, or a few minutes under a broiler set well back, will set the top without deflating it.
- Serve at onceA puffed omelet begins to sink as soon as it leaves the heat. Fold and plate immediately.
- YieldTwo servings as a breakfast dish, or three if there is other food on the table.
This comes from one of the recipe booklets issued by the Corn Products Refining Company, which is why two of the six ingredients are its own: cornstarch, sold under both the Argo and Kingsford's names, and Mazola corn oil. Corn Products was assembled from a group of American starch and glucose mills around the turn of the twentieth century, and Mazola was introduced as a cooking oil in the 1910s, at a period when American kitchens still cooked largely in butter and lard; booklets like this one existed to demonstrate that the new oil could do everything the old fats did. The cornstarch in the batter is not a corner-cutting substitute for anything — a starch-bound puffed omelet appears to have been a familiar enough technique in period cookery, sturdier and more forgiving than a plain beaten-egg omelet — but the brand names attached to it are pure advertising, and the recipe is the vehicle.