Which is more important to the structure of an omelette: the cheese or the yolks?
What would a veggie lovers omelette that omits both taste like?
Structurally, it’s the whites that lend support and form to the omelette.
No cheese, no yolks is an Abomination, and to be shunned by the Righteous.
I usually make French omelettes – with no cheese. Just eggy goodness with a little salt and pepper.
Cheese? What? Omelettes don’t need cheese.
For the structure:
Beat a couple of eggs, salt, and pepper, perhaps with up to a tablespoon of cold water, with a fork or chopsticks. You don’t want them over-beaten. Melt butter in a cheap non-stick pan and get it nice and hot. Pour in the eggs. Move the pan back-and-forth on the burner while agitating the eggs with a silicone spatula. This builds up a nice structure. Sweep the spatula around the sides of the pan to clean up the edges. Allow the eggs to cook until they are pretty-much set. Fold 1/3 of the omelette over. Slide the loose end onto a plate and fold the already-folded end on top of it.
Since the eggs are slightly underdone, they’ll have a creamy texture. The agitation earlier makes them fluffy. Julia Child rubs the top of the omelette with butter and garnishes with chopped parsley. I think Alton Brown does something similar. (Maybe he garnishes with dill.) I just eat them as-is.
Julia Child makes some sort of vagina shaped omelet that looks like a pile of yellow diarrhea. This shit takes no talent. Shake the pan till its done? That’s called scrambled eggs, hack.
The “egg white omelet” is the bane of short order cooks everywhere. I have to waste precious time separating your yolks out, plus, you know how hard that shit is to flip? An omelet should be a 60 second pick-up, but an egg-white-omelet might take 5. waste of everyone’s fucking time. Eat your damn yolks and get off my lawn.
Cheese certainly improves an omelet, to the point that I don’t think there’s any good reason to omit it, but it’s not absolutely necessary. Without the yolk, though, I’d be hesitant to still call it an omelet.
Wow. To me, that’s the perfect omelette, something I can’t find anywhere unless I make it myself.
No, scrambled eggs are different. I agree that her omelette isn’t very attractive. Shaking the pan does help build up the structure, but I’ve tried it her way and have found it works better if you use a spatula as well.
Cheese improves and omelette or doesn’t improve it, depending on what you want. I like the taste of a classic cheese-free omelette. I also like American-style stuffed omelettes. But if it has cheese in it, it needs other stuff as well. Bacon, ham, sausage, smoked salmon, mushrooms, onions, or whatever. It’s also good with a dollop of sour cream and a bit of cheap caviar on top. That’s the great thing about omelettes: you can put just about anything in them. The trick is to not put too much in them.
2 tsps. of ice cold water will make a fluffier, but stiffer, omelet.
Add anything or nothing to the eggs, but without the yolks it’s not going to taste much like egg.
Also try Matzo Brei, crumble a matzo square and moisten with warm water, stir into the eggs and cook like an omelet. You can leave out the water for a crisper version. Don’t turn the matzo into meal, chunks around 1 sq. in. or so are good, but larger or smaller works too.
Well if this is a free for all omelette discussion and since I’m certain you all are dying to know what I have to say, if you add a skosh of hot sauce to the oil before applying the egg batter you will definitely give your omelette a bit of Ka-POW! which never fails to bring the house down.
I’ve gotten pretty good at making omelettes the JC way, but now I have to make omelettes on a huge 4 burner griddle and it’s hard! I pour the eggs on the griddle and immediately the batter spreads out about a foot wide, then I have to take spatula and scrape and move it around. Meanwhile one part finishes up before the other side even sets up. Not a good scenario in the middle of breakfast rush - ALso used to tossing up O/E eggs in a pan, can’t do that with a 50lb griddle. I’ve lost my egg mojo and want it back!
I think I will go out buy a cheap nonstick and donate it to the kitchen - :dubious:
Omelettes require cheese? And all this time nobody told me! And what’s this about “the yolks”? Aren’t you supposed to use eggs now? 
What am I supposed to do with the whites, drink them?
Why even bother with an omelette when with a bit more work you can have a frittata?
I start with olive oil in the pan, precooking the add-ins before adding the egg mixture. Then I cover up the omlette for about 60 seconds during its cooking process. It traps the air and fluffs the egg up to give a thicker omlette.
Cheese has nothing to do with the structure, it’s just a filling.
I made plenty of egg white omelettes when I was a short order cook. Structurally, they hold up adequately, but they are a little thinner and they are flavorless and insubstantial. For dietary masochists only.
Classically speaking, an omelette is eggs only. No fillings, no seasoning, just beaten eggs cooked and folded.
am I the only one who mixes a little milk in when beating the eggs?
Water works better. Makes the omelette fluffier.
An omelette without fillings is just scrambled eggs to me, no matter what the classicists say.
Instead of water, I like using a little bit of fish sauce (which basically makes it kai jeow, a Thai omelette.) You can serve it plain or also whisk in some chives or scallions and shallots. I like it either way, depending on my mood. An omelette is significantly different than scrambled eggs, texturally, whether served plain or not. Scrambled eggs have curds in them and are more moist. Nobody is going to confuse this with an omelette. Omelettes have more the texture and look of crepes. I generally prefer scrambled eggs to omelettes, unless I make the omelettes myself.
Nah, scrambled eggs are a deconstructed omelette. For omelette, you whip up the eggs before adding them to the oil; for scrambled eggs, you whip them up in the pan.