I got the itch to try blogging again.  On Friday, I saw an interesting video on Gourmet’s website about making an omelet.  In college, I made a lot of “omelets,” or at least what I thought was an omelet.  After reading a number of technique cookbooks, I think it was more of a folded frittata.  It was decent, or at least edible, but it lacked the creamy interior.  I tried following the techniques laid out in Essentials of Cooking and Jacque Pepins’s Complete Techniques, but with little success.  It seemed like more omelets were ending up in the trash than on the plate thanks to deeply browning the outside while the inside was still raw.  Not wanting to buy 2 dozen eggs a week, I reverted back to simple scrambled eggs.  Occaisonally I’d still make an omelet, but I was scared of high heat, so the result was more like scrambled eggs in shape of an omelet.

On Friday, I saw this video about how to make a proper omelet.  I decided I had to try it again. On Sunday morning, I took out my omelet pan, set it on the burner, and cranked the heat to high.  Because we have an electric stove in our apartment, I wasn’t too worried about it over-heating.  Most of my other attempts were over a gas stove (which I prefer), and controlling the heat can be a little more tricky.

I mixed together 2 eggs, a little milk, then added salt and pepper. I whipped them to a consistent blend with a fork.  I tossed in about a half tablespoon of butter into my hot pan.  It sizzled, but didn’t burn.  A good start.  I shook and swirled the pan around, waiting for all the butter to melt and the foaming to stop.  Then, I poured in the eggs, and waited 5 seconds.  This is when the skin, or cooked exterior, forms.  After those 5 seconds were up, I grabbed a couple forks and held them like in the video.  I stirred the top of the eggs, trying to get the center to scramble.  I also shook the pan with my other hand, somewhat chaotically and certainly not as gracefully as in the video.  But, after only about a minute, the center looked cooked and the outside wasn’t burnt.  A success!  At least until I tried to fold it.  My pan doesn’t have a very good lip, so getting the omelet out of the pan requires some careful fork maneuvering.  As I was transferring it to the plate, it partially fell apart, but I really didn’t care.  I finally made a classic French omelet.