I watched the new Lasse Hallstrom film “100 Hundred Foot Journey” with Helen Mirren…and it made me want to make an omelette. The movie is about a young Indian man who has a way with food. He’s creating sumptuous meals from his traditional Indian background but wants to expand into European haute food. And one of his tests, to truncate some of the film, is to make an omelet. According to the movie and to restaurant folklore, if you make a perfect omelet, you are a chef. (Is that from “Ratatouille”?). I don’t know if it’s true or not.
I do know that it’s not easy to make an omelette. I have tried for many years to do so and I think, by sheer chance, after using Nick’s saute/fry/ omelet pan, I’ve done it.
Before I go into that, let’s discuss the omelet. It’s really not a complicated meal but when made, it’s so satisfying. From a corner New York diner, to a luxury hotel, to an upscale restaurant, an omelet is one of those breakfast items that can also become dinner. In NYC’s, now legendary Noho Star, only by longevity, I would dine on an omelette called “Gold-n-Green”. Made with Wisconsin “golden” cheddar cheese and spinach (green), the eggy fold-over was a diners’ delight in low meets high brow experiences. (If memory serves me correctly, it’s cost was $12 over 20 years ago.)
Of course now, in LA, Petis Trois, the new Ludo Lefebvre French bistro, serves a $19 dollar experience and Napa’s The Grill at Meadowood, which also has the best hash, in my humble opinion, on the Pacific Coast clocks in at the same. Clearly, an omelet is an expensive experience as King Cole’s Bar & Salon in New York City’s St. Regis Hotel is $25 but the same dish is only $10 at the well-known Empire Diner on Eighth Avenue. For $9.95 in Los Angeles at Jan’s, which is kind of a holdover from a bygone era, you can get consume a four egg omelette with ham and cheese!!!!
Anyhow, the point of all this is, I finally made an omelette and all it took was Nick….who had the right pan. It’s made by Spring Switzerland, a company that I didn’t know. It was one of those strange yet pleasant discoveries that after I had whipped up two eggs and put into the well-oiled pan, I went looking for the S & P; ready to stir what I thought would be scrambled eggs, I noticed they had started to set and essentially finished an omelette….and I made them with the bi-fold, meaning that I folded the eggs over about a third, then gently slipped the eggs out of the pan. As the open side hit the plate, I folded that over and then, it became, folded twice. Instead of the one big flip in the middle. The bi-fold is just a little fancier and more pretentious, which if you know me well-enough, I can be.
I’m not really going to give you a recipe because we all know how to make one. The omelettes that I have pictured were made in this Spring Switzerland pan…and I can’t find a website for cookware. 🙁 Regardless, my suggestion is if you want to make an omelette/omelet invest in a good pan. That’s how you make an omelette; use a good pan. They aren’t cheap. If you want to make a true French omelette without the browning, use clarified butter and not oil or straight butter. The fat in both will brown the eggs.
And just in case you were wondering about the spelling of omelettes/omelets….
