Home › Breakfast Dishes › Light Omelet
Light Omelet
To the yolks of two eggs beaten light, add two tablespoonfuls of cream, milk or water, beat until well mixed, then fold in the whites of the eggs, seasoned to taste with salt and pepper. Grease the omelet pan with olive oil or clarified butter (clarify the butter before using in the pan, it keeps the eggs from sticking to the pan), heat it, pour in the omelet and cook for a minute, lifting the pan so as to relieve the bottom from too great heat, and turning it around on its sides. Then place in a moderate oven for about five minutes, or until the omelet is firm and lightly cooked to the center, which can be ascertained by running a knife into it. Fold and turn out on a hot platter.
A separated-egg (soufflé-style) omelet for two eggs, finished in the oven. The whole thing hinges on folding, not stirring, the beaten whites in.
- Moderate ovenRead that as 350F. The pan goes in only to set the top and center; at a higher temperature the puffed whites will brown and collapse before the middle firms.
- PanYou need an ovenproof skillet — cast iron or a steel omelet pan — of about 7 to 8 inches. A nonstick pan with a plastic handle will not take the oven.
- Why clarified butterMilk solids in whole butter scorch and grip the pan at omelet heat. Clarified butter or oil gives a clean film. The instruction is sound and worth following.
- Folding the whitesBeat the whites to soft peaks, not stiff and dry, and cut them into the yolks with a spatula in a few strokes. Overworking here is the difference between a light omelet and a flat one.
- Salt timingThe original's phrasing leaves it unclear whether the salt and pepper go into the whites or into the mixture as a whole. Salt slackens egg white and costs some of the air, so season the yolk mixture and keep the whites plain.
- "Lifting the pan"On a wood or coal range you moved the pan off the hottest spot. On a gas or electric burner, use medium-low for that first minute and simply keep the pan moving so the base sets without coloring.
- DonenessFive minutes is a fair estimate for two eggs. A knife slid into the center should come out moist but not wet; the omelet keeps cooking on the hot platter.
- YieldTwo eggs makes a single serving. To cook for more, use a wider pan rather than a deeper layer, which sets unevenly.
Nineteenth-century cookbooks distinguish between the plain or French omelet, in which whole eggs are stirred and rolled in the pan, and the light, puffed or soufflé omelet, in which the whites are whipped separately and the dish is finished in the oven — this is the latter. The call for clarified butter suits a range whose heat could not be dialled down, where butter solids scorched readily. Offering cream, milk or water as equals leaves the choice to whatever the kitchen happened to have.