Against the advice of Alton Brown and Julia Child, I did not use a non-stick pan.
I normally make my omelettes in a non-stick pan. I at least put cheese in it, and often onions, meat, and/or whatever else might be on-hand. At the end, I just fold it in half. Today I decided to make a French-style tri-fold plain omelette. Just a pinch of kosher salt, a few grinds of black/red/white/green pepper, and a tablespoon of water for each egg.
As I said, Alton Brown and Julia Child recommend a non-stick omelette pan. AB recommends a cheap one with a smooth finish; and both recommend omelette pans, which have a smooth transition from the bottom of the pans to the sides instead of a ‘line’ around the transition. But I have a nice Calphalon Tri-Ply stainless steel omelette pan and I want to try something different from my normal routine.
I heated up the pan and put in a tablespoon of unsalted butter, and heated the butter over medium-high heat until it smelled nutty. Next went in the eggs, which I swirled around with a fork. AB says to lift the edges of the omelette and swirl the pan to get the uncooked eggs underneath. (He does leave uncooked eggs on top and folds them in, eating the omelette with raw egg still in it.) I had very little raw egg on top, since I was pretty thorough with the fork action. So far, so good.
The next step is to slide the omelette to the handle-side and flip a third of it onto the rest of the omelette. Here’s where I hit a snag. It was stuck. I used a spatula to turn the third over; then I inverted the spatula to get underneath the omelette so it was free. I slid it onto the plate and folded it over itself.
The result? Not as pretty as one cooked by a chef, but it did have the tri-fold shape. The omelette was light and fluffy and very tasty indeed. It just wasn’t perfectly pretty.
Were I to do the same thing, only using a (cheap) non-stick omelette pan, the eggs would not have stuck and the presentation would have been better. But I like using stainless steel. How do I make my omelettes not stick to a stainless steel omelette pan?
It’s not clear to me if you did this, but the pan should be well heated before any grease/oil/butter is put in. I would heat the pan and coat it with oil, then put in the butter, then introduce the eggs.
Is it a new pan? Eggs Like to ooze and grab every little tiny little scratch and scuff. If the pan is noticably used then I doubt you are ever going to be able to achieve perfect non-stickyness
Just to forestall any confusion: I rarely eat omelettes. When I do eat omelettes, I normally cook them in a non-stick pan.
As I said, I mostly use a cast-iron skillet when I make other things. My 10" omelette pan gets used for other things like steak au poivre and such things with sauces. Since I got my stainless steel set, the pots get the most use.
Well, you need enough butter to keep the eggs above the pan surface, maybe 2 or 3 tablespoons instead of 1. I just always use the nonstick pan because it’s such a PITA. I’m convinced that on TV they use special, teflon eggs.
Before heating the pan, wipe it with a paper towel with a little oil on it. Once you use the pan for awhile, this is no longer necessary, but a new pan needs the extra help.
I use a 7" hard-iodized Calphalon pan. It’s perfect for a one-egg omelet. I’d guess a 9" pan would be better for two eggs.
IIRC, Alton Brown says that when you add the eggs, you shake the pan while stirring the eggs with a spatula. Then you lift the edges and let it set.
As for butter, I use about a teaspoon and have no problem (for a single egg). I’d go up to a tablespoon for two eggs, but you really don’t need more.
I can’t find the video right now, but recently one appeared claiming that you must heat the pan to the point that an eighth tsp of water would bead up an roll around like mercury - not immediately boil away.
IIRC, the theory was that if heated to that point (not cooler or hotter), you add the oil and then the moisture in the food creates a vapor layer that prevents sticking.
I went to BB&B Thursday, and bought a cheap set of two omelette pans. Only $14.99, and I got $3 off with the coupon. (I also bought a pair of Calphalon non-stick omelette pans, since they were only $50 and I had a 20%-off coupon for them as well.)
I’ve just eaten an omelette made in the smaller of the cheap pans. Unlike with my stainless-steel Calphalon omelette pan or my aging no-name Teflon pan, the omelette was nice and slidey. Upon plating, the eggs were in the proper tri-fold shape (instead of being a bit malformed like in the OP) – in addition to being light and fluffy.
I should sauté some onions and bell pepper, and fry up some sausage, and stuff the omelette with that and cheese (maybe a dollop of sour cream and a little cheap caviar for garnish), but I’m enjoying the plain omelettes with just salt and freshly-ground pepper mixed in.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll try a Calphalon pan to see if it’s nubbly bottom makes the eggs not slide.
Oh – I meant to say that I do warm the eggs first. If I think of it, I’ll take them out of the fridge well ahead of time. If not, I use the hot water trick.
Unlike AB, I add water to the eggs. I should do it without, but they taste good the way I make them.
My kids love omlettes so I make them regularly. I’m a firm believer in cheap non-stick pans and silicone spatulas (technically probably scrapers).
I also use a little water in the eggs, and butter in the pan. Pull the sides back with the scraper and let the uncooked eggs fill in the gap.
This morning I told the kids I’d make them breakfast sandwiches… Eggs, Bacon, Cheese (Grape Jelly optional) on a biscut. The only biscuts I had were much smaller than normal so they wouldn’t hold the normal over hard egg, so I decided to make an omlette like batch of eggs and cut them. I basically made a 3 egg omlette in an 8 inch pan. The center was still a little runny and I wasn’t going to fold it so I took the challange and flipped it. Perfect landing right back in the pan without any room to spare. My wife saw me and commented that I couldn’t do that again if I tried. Worked perfectly… we had breakfast sandwich “slammers.”
It just wasn’t perfectly pretty.