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Egg Omelet
To two eggs use two tablespoonfuls of cream, milk or water as preferred; beat the eggs until the white is broken and can be dipped up in a spoon. The secret of the omelet is in the cooking. Place in the omelet pan two teaspoonfuls of clarified butter; when hot, turn in the eggs. As soon as the omelet cooks so that you can lift it, throw it toward the center of the pan, first putting in a little chopped parsley, salt and pepper. When the egg is firm, remove from the range and fold.
A French-style rolled omelet in miniature — two eggs, a splash of liquid, and fast heat. The instructions assume you already know what an omelet looks like, so the useful work is in filling the gaps.
- The hinge: don't overbeat"Beat the eggs until the white is broken and can be dipped up in a spoon" means just enough to combine — perhaps twenty strokes with a fork. A whisked, foamy egg makes a tough, dry omelet; a barely broken one stays tender.
- Heat levelNo temperature is given because the range was judged by feel. Medium to medium-high: the clarified butter should be hot enough to set the egg on contact but not colouring. Too low and the omelet weeps; too high and it browns before the centre sets.
- Clarified butterButter with the milk solids removed, so it will take the heat without scorching. Melt a stick gently, skim the foam, pour off the clear fat and discard the milky residue. Two teaspoonfuls, as the recipe gives, is a thin film — enough for a small pan and a two-egg omelet.
- "Throw it toward the center"This is the drawing motion: push the set edges inward with a spatula or fork and tilt the pan so raw egg runs into the gap. Repeat around the pan until little liquid remains.
- TimingThe whole cooking takes 60 to 90 seconds. "When the egg is firm" should mean firm at the edges and still glossy-moist on top — carry-over heat finishes it once folded onto the plate.
- The omelet panA shallow pan with sloping sides, often seasoned iron in this period, though tinned copper pans were also used. A small nonstick or properly seasoned carbon-steel skillet does the same job; use it for eggs and nothing acidic.
- SeasoningSalt and pepper go in with the parsley here rather than into the raw egg. Either works; salting the beaten egg some minutes ahead slackens it, so late seasoning is the safer habit.
- YieldTwo eggs is one serving. Make omelets one at a time rather than scaling up — a four- or six-egg mass in one pan sets unevenly and cannot be rolled cleanly.
The plain rolled omelet was long established in English-language cookbooks before this one, and nineteenth-century French cookery reinforced its place in the breakfast chapter, where eggs, chops and hash did most of the work. The insistence that "the secret of the omelet is in the cooking" is a familiar refrain in books of this period: the ingredients were assumed to be in every kitchen, so the author's contribution was technique — clarified butter, a dedicated pan, and the quick drawing-in of the setting edges. The choice offered between cream, milk or water reflects a genuine and still-argued split; water is generally said to produce a lighter omelet because it steams off, while milk and cream give a softer, richer set. Parsley folded in at the last moment makes this something close to an omelette aux fines herbes, though the classic mixture also includes chervil, chives and tarragon.