Post # 17: How do you cook an omelet?

Blog # 17 How do you cook an omelet?

A couple of weeks ago I googled ‘how to cook an omelet’ and I got a chef who talked about Julia Child and her role in the creation of “the” omelet pan made by the Pot Shop of Boston. Her design has a very interesting history tied to torpedo heads used in WWII.** In the video the chef went through 2 or 3 demos on technique using her omelet pan. He made a plain, a cheese, a tomato based and a something else omelet. Each time he cooked the egg mixture over medium heat and took about 2 to 3 minutes carefully nudging the edge of the omelet so it wouldn’t stick. Then he added other ingredients and then cooked it another 2 to 3 minutes before he folded and tipped the omelet out of the pan.

I’ve viewed a similar technique used by several other chefs.

Earlier tonight I googled again and this time I got a video of Julia Child herself cooking an omelet. She used a very different technique. She insisted on heating the pan on high before she added butter and immediately after that, the egg mixture, then she swirled the pan fast for about less than 10 seconds, and then vigorously jerked the pan “to and fro” linearly for another 5-8 seconds . Then she took it off the burner and tipped it into the serving dish. Here’s the link to Julia:

She said the egg mixture should be cooked over very high heat and for not more than twenty seconds. She said a longer cooking time gives the eggs a firmer and less fluffy consistency. I think she called it “leathery”. She didn’t go into how to add ingredients other than eggs.

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How do you do omelets – with and without added ingredients? I did one two mornings ago using jack cheese and the slow technique. I added a touch of basil, sage, and whole milk to the egg mixture. It was delicious!

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**Some History:

In the early 1940s, a foundry in the Midwest manufactured torpedoes for the U.S. Navy. The front end of the torpedo shell was cut off, so as to allow explosives and other materials to be inserted. That same front end piece was approximately 8 to 11 inches in diameter and was shaped like a skillet, with shallow, sloping sides.

This surplus end piece was simply stockpiled in the foundry yard. At some point in the early fifties, someone recognized the extraordinary cooking potential of the surplus pieces and affixed a handle to one. They made wonderful omelette pans and were distributed through restaurant supply companies, as there were no gourmet kitchenware stores in existence at that time.

In the 1950′s, the foundry stopped manufacturing torpedoes, and the surplus pieces were no longer available.

In 1962, Julia Child, who was just getting started as a television personality, visited the Pot Shop in Boston, one of the finer gourmet kitchenware stores in the USA. She told the torpedo story to the Pot Shop management and suggested that they develop a similar heavy cast aluminum omelette pan, since none were then available. Four months later the first French Chef Omelette Pan created by the Pot Shop was given to Julia Child at her home in Cambridge, where she used it to prepare an omelette lunch for Pot Shop management. As an educator in the field of public broadcasting, she could not officially endorse the omelette pan or any other product. Since then The Pot Shop has manufactured The Original French Chef Omelette Pan, and has done so for 44 years.

This pan was voted the winner by Cook’s Illustrated as the best omelette pan. There is more information on the companies website – http://www.potshopofboston.com/omelettepanreviews.htm

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