I’ve been working on cooking omelets right for a long time and have the egg-stained pages in Julia Childs’ “The Way to Cook” and “Joy of Cooking” to prove it. I even picked up a few techniques from “Cookwise” (a chemistry teacher applies her learning to the kitchen). I can’t say that I can cook 'em up right every time, but at least the outside’s no longer brown and leathery, so here’s my technique and some suggestions.
Oh, before I start, understand that there’s no one right way to cook an omelet. They can be made light and fluffy, and flat and substantial.
First, eggs should be at room temperature. If you need to, place them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes (not boiling hot, you don’t want hard-boiled eggs).
A non-stick pan is ideal. You want to work the omelet, either by swirling the pan or with a spatula, so cast-iron is impractical.
I prefer to add water to the beaten eggs (beat them thoroughly, as mentioned above), about a teaspoon for three eggs. A 3-egg omelet with fillings is a substantial meal for one person, but if you have two people at the table, it can be divided between them.
The pan should be hot. This recipe cooks up omelets real quick. Child recommends putting in butter, and putting in the eggs as soon as the butter melts but before it turns brown. Swirl the pan around to keep the eggs in motion, then let it sit for a minute.
The secret to the perfect omelet is to undercook it. If it looks right in the pan, it’s too late. Mind, I’m not advocating that you eat uncooked eggs, it’s that the omelet will finish cooking after you get it out of the pan.
Anyway, drop in your fillings and prepare to place the omelet on the plate. The way of rookies. The half-moon formation is achieved by sliding the omelet out of the pan about halfway, then using the pan to flip the other have over (you did remember to put the filling in the half of the pan away from the handle, didn’t you? That’s the part that you will slide onto the plate).
If you’re looking to score cool points with your guest, then you put the filling in a line down the center of the pan, fold the farthest one-third of the omelet over <i>in the pan</i>, slide it out onto the plate, and fold the final third over using the technique mentioned above. You do this by thrusting the pan away from you and raising it up at the very end to flip the far end of the omelet toward you (image the letter “J” on its back). This does take practice, but the satisfaction is worth the effort.
The most interesting omelet I saw – oh sit down, I’m almost done! – was in a locally owned waffle shop I worked at in Chapel Hill, N.C. They made a three-egg omelet like I’ve never been able to replicate. It looked like a pillow on the plate. Best I can tell, they used fresh eggs and dropped a nugget of pancake batter into the mixture instead of water. Mmmmmmm.