Beating eggs the day before for fluffier omelettes?

[gfweb]

I recall a Top Chef where W.Puck challenged the cheftestants to make an omelet.

 

They were largely dumbfounded (which I found amazing). He'd have accepted a country omelet, a French omelet...any damned omelet.

 

He finally demonstrated an omelet that involved hitting the pan with one's wrist and flipping it out on a plate. Magic.

[FeChef]

11 minutes ago, gfweb said:

I recall a Top Chef where W.Puck challenged the cheftestants to make an omelet.

 

They were largely dumbfounded (which I found amazing). He'd have accepted a country omelet, a French omelet...any damned omelet.

 

He finally demonstrated an omelet that involved hitting the pan with one's wrist and flipping it out on a plate. Magic.

Country omelet is a favorite of mine. Although i think we are talking about two different things. In my area/region a "country omelet" Is a mix mash of meat of choice, homefries, and eggs with a side of toast. I prefer smoked sausage with fried onions in my country omelet.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

44 minutes ago, gfweb said:

I recall a Top Chef where W.Puck challenged the cheftestants to make an omelet.

 

They were largely dumbfounded (which I found amazing). He'd have accepted a country omelet, a French omelet...any damned omelet.

 

He finally demonstrated an omelet that involved hitting the pan with one's wrist and flipping it out on a plate. Magic.

 

I am currently reading Bonnie Stern's Don't Worry, Just Cook.  She states:  "When I was in chef training, it was a big deal to learn how to make the perfect French omelet.  It had to be light and fluffy..."  My eyes glazed over.

 

[Tropicalsenior]

8 hours ago, gfweb said:

He finally demonstrated an omelet that involved hitting the pan with one's wrist and flipping it out on a plate. Magic.

That was all theater. All you need is a good egg pan and with a quick flip of the wrist it rolls right out. Anyone that has worked the breakfast line knows that if you whacked it with your wrist every time you made an omelet, you would be crippled in no time flat.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[robie]

On 12/26/2022 at 10:07 AM, rustwood said:

Good thought.  If he is adding anything, he hasn't shared those details.  I suppose pre-seasoning with salt might have an impact overnight though.

 

https://www.seriouseats.com/does-pre-salting-eggs-make-them-tough

[rustwood]

14 minutes ago, robie said:

https://www.seriouseats.com/does-pre-salting-eggs-make-them-tough

 

Good find.  "If anything, the eggs that sat with salt for the longest were more moist and tender than the eggs that were exposed to salt for less time, though I can't stress enough that the differences were incredibly subtle."  Of course their longest wait was an hour, not many hours overnight.

 

[weinoo]

9 hours ago, gfweb said:

I recall a Top Chef where W.Puck challenged the cheftestants to make an omelet.

 

They were largely dumbfounded (which I found amazing). He'd have accepted a country omelet, a French omelet...any damned omelet.

 

He finally demonstrated an omelet that involved hitting the pan with one's wrist and flipping it out on a plate. Magic.

That was always Julia’s method.  But…

 

6 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

That was all theater. All you need is a good egg pan and with a quick flip of the wrist it rolls right out. Anyone that has worked the breakfast line knows that if you whacked it with your wrist every time you made an omelet, you would be crippled in no time flat.

this is undoubtedly true.  

[weinoo]

 

The Good Cook: Eggs and Cheese (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

[Tropicalsenior]

30 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

The Good Cook: Eggs and Cheese (eG-friendly Amazon.com

That may be good and well for teaching a home cook how to make an omelet but since we started out talking about restaurant eggs that is a situation that you would not see in a restaurant. First, the shape of the egg pan is wrong. Egg pans have totally sloping sides. Second, I would have scalped anyone that came near my egg pans with a fork, in fact I still would.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[weinoo]

2 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

That may be good and well for teaching a home cook how to make an omelet but since we started out talking about restaurant eggs that is a situation that you would not see in a restaurant. First, the shape of the egg pan is wrong. Egg pans have totally sloping sides. Second, I would have scalped anyone that came near my egg pans with a fork, in fact I still would.

 

I use a fork.  And if one is making omelettes in a classic crepe pan (as pictured) or blue steel pan properly seasoned, a fork is fine.

[gfweb]

8 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

That may be good and well for teaching a home cook how to make an omelet but since we started out talking about restaurant eggs that is a situation that you would not see in a restaurant. First, the shape of the egg pan is wrong. Egg pans have totally sloping sides. Second, I would have scalped anyone that came near my egg pans with a fork, in fact I still would.

 

This isn't a teflon pan though.  Carbon steel is fork-resistant.

[Tropicalsenior]

1 minute ago, weinoo said:

 

I use a fork.  And if one is making omelettes in a classic crepe pan (as pictured) or blue steel pan properly seasoned, a fork is fine.

I still use the classic egg pans. I have two small tempered steel and two larger non-stick omelette pans. I don't use the fork because I have made so many that with just a flip of the wrist I can get them to curl perfectly. But I do realize that not everybody has the ability or wants to put in the hours of practice necessary to learn.

[rotuts]

in FR , possible other places 

 

there are forks that are flat, for the fork-ish part , and have longer tines

 

they are used , in the Egg-Omelette pan to rapidly mix the 

 

eggs , so they come to temp at apron the same time

 

I used to have one , 

 

JP and JC used them 

 

worked well.

[gfweb]

I usually use a long forceps for beating the eggs and cooking the omelet.  It actually homogenizes eggs faster than a whisk or a fork.  I've seen chopsticks used similarly.

[Tropicalsenior]

As I said, I am talking about restaurant situations and I have spent too many hours tempering egg pans to risk even the tiniest scratch. There are two things in the kitchen that I am completely anal about and those are my knives and my egg pans. There's nothing worse than getting your rhythm going and then having an egg pan that sticks.

Fortunately, today most restaurants use Teflon but I remember the "good old days" when you had to protect them like they were gold or you spent hours tempering them all over again.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[blue_dolphin]

33 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Second, I would have scalped anyone that came near my egg pans with a fork, in fact I still would.

We'll let Jacques know to keep his forks concealed when in Costa Rica 🤣

 

24 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I don't use the fork because I have made so many that with just a flip of the wrist I can get them to curl perfectly. But I do realize that not everybody has the ability or wants to put in the hours of practice necessary to learn.

Note though that Jacques' primary use for the fork is not curling the omelet but distributing the egg evenly in the pan.  I'm sure you are skilled enough not to need that but if one does, then the fork is already in hand and easy enough to use in guiding it onto the plate without really even touching the pan.  

 

From Pepin's classic The Art of Cooking, vol 2, in which he describes the classic French omelet, the country-style (browned), both of which can be either rolled or folded around a filling (aka stuffed omelet) and lastly, the flat, frittata-like farmer-style omelet. 

 

 

 

11 hours ago, FeChef said:

Country omelet is a favorite of mine. Although i think we are talking about two different things. In my area/region a "country omelet" Is a mix mash of meat of choice, homefries, and eggs with a side of toast. I prefer smoked sausage with fried onions in my country omelet.

That sounds like what Jacques calls a flat, farmer-style omelet in his book, shown above, though he doesn't specifically call out the side of toast 🙃.  I must say that I'm tempted to make one of those as it looks awfully good!

[Tropicalsenior]

4 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'm sure you are skilled enough not to need that but if one does, then the fork is already in hand

I use a soft silicone spatula now but before they had those I always just cooked it lightly on one side, flipped it and then used wrist action to roll it onto a plate.

 

7 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

We'll let Jacques know to keep his forks concealed when in Costa Rica

Sorry, Jacques. If you want to cook in my kitchen, you bring your own egg pans.

[Anna N]

10 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

From Pepin's classic The Art of Cooking, vol 2, in which he describes the classic French omelet, the country-style (browned), both of which can be either rolled or folded around a filling (aka stuffed omelet) and lastly, the flat, frittata-like farmer-style omelet. 

You are my hero. 😂. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

re Jac

48 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

We'll let Jacques know to keep his forks concealed when in Costa Rica 🤣

 

Note though that Jacques' primary use for the fork is not curling the omelet but distributing the egg evenly in the pan.  I'm sure you are skilled enough not to need that but if one does, then the fork is already in hand and easy enough to use in guiding it onto the plate without really even touching the pan.  

 

From Pepin's classic The Art of Cooking, vol 2, in which he describes the classic French omelet, the country-style (browned), both of which can be either rolled or folded around a filling (aka stuffed omelet) and lastly, the flat, frittata-like farmer-style omelet. 

 

 

 

re Jacques demonstrating with a fork, while most readers will understand that his touch is light and that he never abrades the pan, many inexperienced readers will only see that it is okay to use a fork on an eggpan without acknowledging his almost touchless technique.

[weinoo]

 

 

Kuhn Rikon Silicone Whisking Fork with Angled Tips & Flexible Steel Core, Red (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

[Duvel]

10 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

 

Kuhn Rikon Silicone Whisking Fork with Angled Tips & Flexible Steel Core, Red (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

A fork with five prongs … what do you take me for - Lorenzo de' Medici ?!*
 

—-

* exclamation used without permission from C. Montgomery Burns

[Tropicalsenior]

16 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

 

Kuhn Rikon Silicone Whisking Fork with Angled Tips & Flexible Steel Core, Red (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

Sounds like a great idea but it is currently unavailable. Oh, but they do have this one but then again, there's that one catch about shipping it to Costa Rica.

$13.99

$23.78 Shipping & Import Fees Deposit to Costa Rica

[Anna N]

57 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

 

Kuhn Rikon Silicone Whisking Fork with Angled Tips & Flexible Steel Core, Red (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

It might save my Teflon pans, but it’s playing havoc with my aesthetic sense. I have seen uglier things, but not many.

[AlaMoi]

Pepin has made hundreds of videos about omelette making.

he endorses both a country style which is browned, and the 'classic' style which is never browned.

btw, he does the rap-on-the-wrist trick to ensure nothing is stuck....  I think he used to work in a couple restaurants . . . so maybe he knows how to do it in that setting . . .?

 

see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1XoCQm5JSQ
https://youtu.be/KveBXEIYaIU

[Tropicalsenior]

7 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

btw, he does the rap-on-the-wrist trick to ensure nothing is stuck

If he took care of his egg pans and didn't scratch them up with that damn fork they wouldn't stick in the first place and he wouldn't have to bang them with his wrist.