I’ve been working on making a perfect French omelet for years. It’s challenging and frustrating when it doesn’t come out correctly. I don’t get as angry as I did when I was younger and threw away eggs in a fit of rage. I am calmer now, and eggs are expensive af.
There are two kinds of people in the world, one who wants the food they have thought about for days, eat or make look and taste delicious. The other doesn’t give a shit what the food looks like as long as it tastes good to them. Right?
A French omelet is not only a complicated dish to master but is used by chefs in kitchens when interviewing a chef as a job candidate. Why an omelet? It shows how organized and how neat the chef works. It offers their knowledge, expertise, and efficiency. It’s a good indicator if they are a bullshit artist or not.
If you are wondering if there is a difference between a French omelet and an American one, the answer is yes. We’ve all seen those infamous three egg omelets at diners across America overstuffed with the filling coming out the sides. The outside is the omelet is browned and dry looking.
Now, if you like these types of omelets, I say good for you, and you should enjoy them as often as you would like. I had never liked omelets until I first had a French omelet, which was life-changing.
It was exactly like the soft and creamy French scrambled eggs I have mastered and love so much. The first time people eat my scrambled eggs, they love them too. Most people think they have cheese in them because they are so creamy. My culinary students at school loved when I made and taught them how to make these eggs.
Before I attempted making French omelets, Marty and I watched many Youtube videos on how to make them. I watched the French Chef episode when Julia Child makes her omelets effortlessly. Even though her recipe for French omelets in Mastering the Art of French Cooking is eight pages long, she can bang out an omelet in 14-20 seconds. “It’s all in the wrist,” she says. Bullshit!
French omelets are made quickly, not 14-20 seconds quickly, but faster than an American omelet. The well-beaten eggs are poured into a hot pan with butter and stirred vigorously with a fork until they begin to set. Next, you shake the pan using your wrist to keep the omelet moving.
As soon as it is almost set, you remove the pan from the heat and tip the pan while rolling the omelet onto itself; then, the plate is held close to the pan as the omelet slides onto the plate. Easy peasy. Not so much.
So my instructions are a mere two short paragraphs, but that’s how it is done in a nutshell, and believe me, it’s more complicated than it sounds. Marty, that son of a bitch nailed his omelet the first time he tried making one.
We are so competitive that he paraded around the kitchen with his perfect omelet while I was swearing up a storm and had to eat my less-than-perfect, far-from-perfect omelet. That bastard! Lol.
Since I have to eat in the morning now taking this new medication, I decided to make myself a French omelet with a bagel for breakfast the other morning. And…it came out how it is supposed to be! Yay! It was just a plain omelet without any filling but tasted so luxuriously delicious.
It was soft, velvety, and unctuous in my mouth. Marty pretended not to notice my omelet as he ate his bagel at the other end of the kitchen island. He saw it but had no comments to make.
Marty’s big thing to say these days is to ask me while I am blabbing about something random, “and this concerns me, how?” He knows it makes me crazy, so I blurt it out before he can, and we both laugh.
Not everyone gives two shits about an omelet, but foodie people, aspiring cooks, and chefs are obsessed with making them properly. The next time I am going to add a small amount of freshly snipped chives to my omelet and then perhaps move on to a small sprinkling of Swiss cheese. It’s not about the fillings like in an American omelet; it’s about the simple perfection in which it’s made and the soft creamy texture.
If you have never had a French omelet, I urge you to seek a restaurant or a place that makes them. You may never go back to an American omelet again. Better yet, you could always try making one yourself. Here is a link to making a French omelet.