Q&A: All About Eggs --Omelettes & More

[babka]

great lesson!

I've gone to the Smithsonians for the express purpose of watching Julia Child do the wrist-twist thing on omelets twice now--and I'm delighted that you apparently understand it, but I'm afraid I still don't. Could you please explain a little bit more around what what happens in the firm-shake/jerk-wrist stage of things? What's happening exactly to the omelet's orientation?

[Fat Guy]

You are essentially rolling the omelette. Not folding it in half. And not flipping it over.

You are basically working with a circular sheet of eggs that is somewhat wet on top yet coherent on the bottom. At the end of the process, you want a "packet" of eggs that is about 1/4 as wide (the short dimension measured across the top) as the diameter of that sheet of eggs. The way you make that happen is you do a push-and-jerk motion. You tile the pan a bit away from you, then push the pan away from you and quickly jerk it back as you lower the handle to get the pan more level. The first jerk or two wil cause a small part of the far end of the sheet to fold up and back over the sheet. As you do this several times, the whole thing will roll-fold in this manner, and when you remove the omelette from the pan onto the serving plate you also get a chance to do some final rolling-shaping in that process.

Does this make any sense at all?

[babka]

yes.

even tried it out for breakfast a few minutes ago--and YES!

but I started shaking a bit too early--fluffy covering around a lovely raw-egg-cheese custard.

will try again for lunch--

thanks!

[ExtraMSG]

I made one today. Used bacon grease instead of butter, though, and then put the bacon inside the omelette.

A question: how runny should the insides be when I get done? When I cut into it a bit of warm but unset egg trickled out. Sould I have left it in the pan to finish a bit more after rolling it?

[NickMach007]

I made one today. Used bacon grease instead of butter, though, and then put the bacon inside the omelette.

A question: how runny should the insides be when I get done? When I cut into it a bit of warm but unset egg trickled out. Sould I have left it in the pan to finish a bit more after rolling it?

Mmmmmmm bacon. How did that turn out? Was it greasy, or did the bacon fat work pretty well?

[ExtraMSG]

It was just a thin layer. Poured off the excess before putting the eggs in. It wasn't greasy.

[wesza]

You are essentially rolling the omelette. Not folding it in half. And not flipping it over.

You are basically working with a circular sheet of eggs that is somewhat wet on top yet coherent on the bottom. At the end of the process, you want a "packet" of eggs that is about 1/4 as wide (the short dimension measured across the top) as the diameter of that sheet of eggs. The way you make that happen is you do a push-and-jerk motion. You tile the pan a bit away from you, then push the pan away from you and quickly jerk it back as you lower the handle to get the pan more level. The first jerk or two wil cause a small part of the far end of the sheet to fold up and back over the sheet. As you do this several times, the whole thing will roll-fold in this manner, and when you remove the omelette from the pan onto the serving plate you also get a chance to do some final rolling-shaping in that process.

Does this make any sense at all?

Steven:

Thank you for your dealing so competently with one of the most important topics that most eGulletiers will appreciate. Eggs are still one of our most reasonable sources of protein and so often overlooked due to just being so much a everyday part of our lives.

I'd like to take this opportunity to bring to everyones attention one of the most often overlooked or even unknown specialist in the Restaurant business. These Cooks who rarely obtain the status of "Chef" are in my opinion true culinary experts.

The "Egg Man" or "Egg Lady" are the true experts responsible for running one of the most difficult positions on any Restaurant serving Breakfast. Watching anyone of them at work is a very special thing as ability of putting together and cooking every order a la carte with speed, many pans, rhythm and timing is special.

There are many places that consider the "Egg Person" their most valued employee and I've been privileged to work and learn from many thru the years.

In their honor and to thank you I'd like to share a bit of Magic that I learned from a "French Egg Man", who worked the Egg Station at the "Claremont Diner" in New Jersey owned by Morris Baum where it wasn't unusual to serve 1000 breakfasts on a busy weekend morning.

Since this was a operation that prepared everything for quality there was no such thing as cooking eggs with anything but butter in a fry pan. Eggs were never opened except to order and even for omelets they were simply placed unwhisked but opened into bowls, complimented by the fillings alongside as orders were received, then fired on order.

The one thing that made every Omelet super fluffy and brought customers back again and again was quite simple and could be done everywhere.

After the Eggs had set in the Pan, and the filling was put inside all the Pans were quickly placed under the Broiler for several seconds, just long enough to set and let the eggs puff up under the heat. Then they were quickly folded up into the warm platters and served.

This was the method our "Egg Man" had learned from the George V and the Ritz Hotels in Paris and I've brought it to many places and still do it at home today. It's fail proof and truly brings out all the marriage of tastes about your dream omelet.

Irwin

[ExtraMSG]

You tile the pan a bit away from you, then push the pan away from you and quickly jerk it back as you lower the handle to get the pan more level. The first jerk or two wil cause a small part of the far end of the sheet to fold up and back over the sheet. As you do this several times, the whole thing will roll-fold in this manner, and when you remove the omelette from the pan onto the serving plate you also get a chance to do some final rolling-shaping in that process.

I tried to make a quick illustration of this process. HTH:

[Chad]

After the Eggs had set in the Pan, and the filling was put inside all the Pans were quickly placed under the Broiler for several seconds, just long enough to set and let the eggs puff up under the heat. Then they were quickly folded up into the warm platters and served.

Hey! That's a cool idea. I'll have to give that a try. Thanks, Irwin!

Chad

[slkinsey]

I think a warm plate makes a big difference, too. Omelettes are really at their most fluffy when plated just slightly underdone. When the omelette is plated on a warm plate, the gentle warmth of the plate itself finished the cooking of the eggs.

[Fat Guy]

Irwin:

On the egg man point: You have no idea how prophetic your post is. We will have a very special treat along those lines next week. Rest assured, some of us do appreciate egg men and all they do. Stay tuned.

On the use of the broiler in omelette making: This is an excellent trick, one that I use especially when serving guests, but it only works if you have the broiler that most home cooks don't. If you don't have at least around a 15k BTU/hr infrared pro-style broiler, you won't hit the eggs with the blast of energy they need to really puff up that way quickly while still remaining moist. I've tried it at other people's houses with regular gas and electric broilers and it just doesn't work.

[Fat Guy]

A question: how runny should the insides be when I get done? When I cut into it a bit of warm but unset egg trickled out. Sould I have left it in the pan to finish a bit more after rolling it?

The inside shouldn't really be runny; it should just be a little wet. The way you want to go to get the right effect is to make sure the ratio of egg to pan is such that you're pouring a rather thin layer, and to make sure the pan is good and hot. If you have too much egg, or the pan isn't hot enough, you'll never cook through the eggs from the bottom before you overcook the bottom. If you have the ratio and the pan right, and you wait until you see those bubbles before you start the shaking-and-rolling process, your omelette will be just right by the time you plate it. And no, you shouldn't leave it to finish after it's rolled. That will just overcook the outside. It's a seamless process from pan to mouth once you start shaking.

[Fat Guy]

Cool. Many thanks. Now all we need are the eggs and some vectors indicated!

[snowangel]

You are essentially rolling the omelette. Not folding it in half. And not flipping it over.

You are basically working with a circular sheet of eggs that is somewhat wet on top yet coherent on the bottom. At the end of the process, you want a "packet" of eggs that is about 1/4 as wide (the short dimension measured across the top) as the diameter of that sheet of eggs. The way you make that happen is you do a push-and-jerk motion. You tile the pan a bit away from you, then push the pan away from you and quickly jerk it back as you lower the handle to get the pan more level. The first jerk or two wil cause a small part of the far end of the sheet to fold up and back over the sheet. As you do this several times, the whole thing will roll-fold in this manner, and when you remove the omelette from the pan onto the serving plate you also get a chance to do some final rolling-shaping in that process.

Does this make any sense at all?

Now is the time for video on eG!

[gus_tatory]

thanks FG for the amazing course!

this is the tutorial where meringue is mentioned at the end, right?

question:

if you make meringues, and they always come out chewy-crunchy, instead of crunchy enough to make, for example a pavlova, what might be the culprit? and they also frequently have droplets of caramelized sugar on them.

i'm guessing underbeating of whites, or not enough time in oven, but await your advice.

[ExtraMSG]

Cool. Many thanks. Now all we need are the eggs and some vectors indicated!

Your wish is my command:

[ExtraMSG]

Now is the time for video on eG!

How about really lame-ass animation instead:

[Fat Guy]

Extra: You should do animation for South Park!

Gus: You've exceeded the limits of my knowledge. Let's hope Carolyn Tillie or one of the pastry chefs on the site can chime in with an answer for you.

[Katherine]

thanks FG for the amazing course!

this is the tutorial where meringue is mentioned at the end, right?

question:

if you make meringues, and they always come out chewy-crunchy, instead of crunchy enough to make, for example a pavlova, what might be the culprit? and they also frequently have droplets of caramelized sugar on them.

i'm guessing underbeating of whites, or not enough time in oven, but await your advice.

I would cook them longer at a lower temperature.

[Rachel Perlow]

"Shaken"Omelette Homework:

Filling was diced & sauteed onion, green pepper, sliced mushroom, bacon, and a sprinking of cheese. I put less than half the filling I would normally have used and put it on as soon as the skin began forming, but before shaking the pan. The shaking technique I have down, as you can see the form of the finished omelette.

However, I had two negatives: First, the outside browned slightly, and second, the inside wasn't cooked enough fpr my taste, although Jason enjoyed it a little runny.

How can we get a more fully cooked omelette without browning the outside or cooking it longer after it is formed and read to flip out of the pan?

I would cook them longer at a lower temperature.

I suppose I should just accept Katherine's advice. (Although it applied to meringue!)

[Fat Guy]

That actually looks like a great omelette, but if you're looking to get a more even cook then the most reliable way to do it is by using a thinner sheet of eggs (a larger pan for the same amount of egg; or less egg in the same pan). Also relevant would be the temperature of the eggs when you put them in the pan. It certainly doesn't look overfilled, and your technique is terrific.

[ExtraMSG]

This is exactly how my omelette came out, maybe slightly less brown, but exactly that runny. Also, when I did it, I had left the eggs out to come to near room temperature and I only did two eggs for a 12" pan, so they were pretty thin.

I'm out of eggs, but I'm going to do some side by side comparisons of scrambling the omelette before it sets and doing the shaking method to see which I prefer. I think a lot of people would not be happy with the runny aspect, though I don't mind it.

EDIT: scrambling method video: http://www.epicurious.com/e_eating/e02_vid...eggs_omelet.ram?

Edited February 14, 2004 by ExtraMSG (log)

[Mayhaw Man]

Were my stupid, impossible to install for some reason, copy of Photoshop 7.0 working I would provide fabulous digital photos of the omelettes I made using the water addition.

I added finely minced onion and yellow bellpepper, cilantro, and finely shaved (almost like dust) reggiano. Delicious. The younger Mayhaws enjoyed them as well, but sans cilantro (they will eat all manner of raw fish but won't touch cilantro-go figure ) .

Excellent course. I learned much and watching it unfold over the course of the week.

[Fat Guy]

I wanted to mention -- after a dialog with slkinsey -- that it's possible to get a runny center and browned exterior if the pan is too hot or has been allowed to heat too long before the eggs are added. If the butter actually browns, so will the omelette. Likewise, if the pan is too hot, the bottom of the omelette will cook before the top has any time to come up to temperature. Interestingly, you can get similarly runny interiors if your pan is underheated: there's not enough thermal energy to penetrate the layer of eggs, and therefore only the bottom cooks. So it's really a question of finding the center of the bell curve of ideal heat, and also adding the eggs just before the butter browns so as to knock the pan's temperature back a bit.

[ExtraMSG]

I made an omelette today, FG, following your method. However, just to set the egg on top entirely, I had the broiler on (a crappy electric oven broiler, too) and just manually put the pan under the broiler about an inch or two away from the element. In about 15 seconds it was set. Then I just finished from there. It's pretty easy for those who don't want runniness at all (like my wife, the person I made the omelette for).

I think one problem I may be having is that the pan I'm using may be losing heat quickly after the eggs are tossed in. You wouldn't think so, since it's not something with a lot of mass like a steak, but maybe it is the case. I'm using medium high heat, about 7 on my electric stovetop (came with the house, man I wish I could get gas). Maybe that's not hot enough.