Southern Maryland Meats

Omelette

Topic and Skill – The perfect American Omelette. Importance of Egg Selection. (Episode #14): Making a great omelette is an essential part of being a good cook.

Although I consider a great omelette as normal as any other center-of-the-plate recipe, many consider it ‘breakfast for dinner’. Whichever way you describe it, there are three things that one must do in order to make a great omelette, and neither have anything to do with technique. Those three things are: 1) sourcing really great eggs, 2) doing a complete ‘mise en place’ (plan ahead) prior to starting cooking, and 3) having a really good nonstick skillet.

Sourcing great eggs: Most commercially branded eggs are from laying hens that are fed a controlled diet. They are not given the ability to live a natural chicken life by walking outdoors, exercising, and eating a more earthy diet. Do not be led astray by claims of “cage-free”. Legally speaking, cage-free means that the chickens aren’t caged and can roam freely in an enclosed space (…that just means a bigger cage), but they do not have access to the outdoors. The better egg is the egg from pastured or pasture-raised chickens that have continuous access to the outdoors. The yolks have far more Omega-3’s, less cholesterol, and beautiful deeply orange-colored yolks. They also come in all sorts of colors: white, brown, speckled, and green (yes, there really are green eggs!)

Complete mise-en-place: Since the entire cooking process of an omelette is fairly short, you must decide what filling(s) you want to include. Cheese, for instance, can be added in the pan (explained in the video), and if it is shredded it will melt nicely during the normal cooking process. Some vegetables like avocado and tomato may be added raw and chopped. However, many other ingredients like bacon, ham, mushrooms, green peppers, and onions, need to be cooked and readied for insertion into the omelette near the end of the cooking time. So, plan ahead!

Nonstick skillet: Any scratch-free Teflon or nonstick coated skillet or omelette pan, or very well-seasoned cast iron skillet is best.

Ingredients

2 to 3 farm-fresh, pastured eggs
1 to 2 tablespoons milk, half and half, or water
Pinch Kosher Salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
¼ cup grated cheese
3 tablespoons each of other ingredients (bacon, ham, onion, mushroom, etc.)

Directions

Beat eggs and milk (or substitute) with whisk or fork until whites are incorporated. Heat skillet on medium heat. Add Butter.

Swirl butter around pan until the bottom of the pan is covered, but there is still a small amount of un-melted butter remaining. Then add eggs to skillet.

As eggs begin to cook around the edges, using a heat-resistant spatula begin lifting the edges up, tilt the pan slightly, and allow the eggs to flow under the edge. Work around the skillet, pulling the edge up, and allowing the uncooked eggs to flow underneath.

Once most of the ‘loose’ eggs have been tucked under the edges, the brave at heart will flip the omelette completely over in the pan (takes a little practice). If you are not so inclined, then cook the omelette a bit more at this point before adding ingredients.

If you have flipped, then flip the omelette back to its original side and start adding ingredients.

Grated cheese can be added over the entire omelette. Other ingredients should be added on just one side.

At this point, the omelette can be folded. The side that does not have additional ingredients should be lifted up with the spatula and folded over onto the other side.

Now, take a dinner plate in one hand, and with the skillet in the other, invert the skillet onto the plate, so the bottom side of the folded omelette is now golden brown and sitting center of the plate.

Serve immediately.