Making an Omelette

This is the way an omelette should be made. It is important that the fryingpan should be propor tionate to the number of eggs; in other words, to the size of the omelette. The fryingpan must be made of iron, not of aluminium, tin or enamel. And here I feel I must stress a point essential to what might be called the background of omelette-making, namely that the frying-pan must never be washed with water but rubbed, when hot, with salt and tissue paper, as this is the only way to prevent sticking.

 For three portions, we take six eggs, break them into a bowl, season them with salt and freshly ground pepper, and add a good teaspoonful of water. We beat this lightly with a fork or the wire–broom, not the whisk, until large bubbles form on the top. This takes half a minute; it is fatal to beat too long. Meanwhile, our fryingpan is getting hot, not too hot, and we drop in an ounce and a half of butter, or butter and best lard, over a quick flame for a minute or two, until it gives no more froth and has turned light golden. We give our egg-mixture another stir and pour it into the fan, letting it spread evenly over the frying–pan.

 All this is a swift business, and we may well feel a few extra heart–beats and a little breath lessness at that moment. The flame is now turned down a little. With a fork or palette-knife (a fork seems to work particularly well) we loosen the edges of the omelette all round and, once or twice, in the middle, letting the liquid flow into the empty spaces, taking care always to move towards the middle.

 This takes about two minutes. Then, keeping as calm as we possibly can, we fold it. This is easy if we fold over and pin down with two or three fork-pricks about an inch and-a-half of the omelette along one side. Then, it is quite easy to roll it into shape. Our omelette should be golden brown outside and wet inside: baveuse, as the classical French term says. It is then slid on to a hot plate and its surface made shiny with a little butter. This last touch makes all the difference.

Taken from: Developing English Copetences grade 10