What could be more fitting than the humble omelette?
I know what you're thinking. What place does an omelette have in a baking blog? Or even in any food blog? Making it is so mindlessly simple that even toddlers can do it. Even if that toddler is a monkey. A monkey toddler on blindfold.
Genius at work
After watching Julia Child flip her omelette ever so flawlessly, I realized that there's more to the omelette than meets the eye. Whether you want a delicate French-up roll, or a full-moon platter reminiscent of Spanish reference, or even a traditional English half moon - the omelette needs two things in order for it to be perfect: quality ingredients and the right size of pans. Oh, as for the flipping? You'd be better off if you had a lot of fearless wits as well.
And so I took out my eggs (haha), cracked them open in bowl, tossed in some salt, some cheese (just plain cheddar), and some cayenne (i love cayenne on everything - and yes even on my coffee). In my mind, I could hear the voice of Dexter in that popular Dexter's Lab episode wherein the only word he could say was "Omelette du Fromage". And I'd do him justice once I create my own omelette du fromage a la Child.
The thing is, I did all of this - cooking, flipping and all - expecting I'd get it right the first time. Expecting I'd end up with the same beautiful omelette Julia Child used to make on tv.
Oh Julia, why'd you have to make set the bar so high?
I remembered what Julia said about being fearless about the flipping. But I did not want to end up with an eggy mess, so I just shook the pan too modestly. The perfect omelettes require the right timing, or else you eggs will become dry and lose all its moisture. You would also want it to be smooth on the edges, with flaps covering the melting cheese on the inside. Instead, after much shaking and prodding, I produced this:
Later on, I learned that the perfect omelette doesn't just happen inside my head. Even with the Omelette du Fromage chant. So I resorted to online sources and checked up on what the gastronomists had to say.
- According to Larousse Gastronomique, 2-3 tbsps. of milk can be added to 8 beaten eggs for added fluffiness.
- The founder of the foodie community Egullet, Steven Shaw, says that "one teaspoon of cold water per large egg will make a difference in the fluffiness of the omelette...the water becomes steam upon hitting the pan...this steam rises throughout the omelette and acts as the leavening agent of sorts, thus making the omelette fluffier."
- Use eggs when they come to room temperature as cooking cold eggs will result to an overcooked base and will toughen up if not cooked fast enough.
- Harold McGee says, "If good scrambled eggs demand patience, a good omelette takes panache - a two or three-egg omelette cooks in less than a minute.
- If the pan is too big, the omelette will cook too quickly. If it's too small, it will be tough on the outside and be very very runny on the inside.
- It's tempting to use a non-stick Teflon pan to flip your eggs around flawlessly, but a cast-iron skillet will do just fine - if properly heated and buttered.
- Michael Roux Jr. School teaches how to cook the omelet like so: pour in the eggs, allow to set for 20 seconds, then start stirring and shaking the pan to no end until the whole thing is ready.
And what did Julia Child say about cooking omelettes? I think she did it the way Roux Jr does.
One more thing.
I got this on valentines Day:
This is not my copy, although mine looks exactly like this.
How could I have been so stupid to forget that I had Julia Child's seminal culinary book in my room? I could just easily flip through the page on the omelette and read through her instructions. After all, this was THE book that introduced French cuisine into the kitchens of every American household back in the early 1960's, owing to its easy to follow techniques. Darn it. I should not get too excited - or too hungry - if I am to expect perfection in my Omelette du Fromage.
It happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment