Just when I start to feel like I'm starting to "master" part of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" I'm reminded what a novice I really am. I woke up last weekend feeling like making a quick breakfast for my daughters and I so I offered to make rolled ham and cheese omelettes (L'Omelette Roulee Au Fromage) since I had already "mastered" those way back in the August/September time frame. Preparing eggs was one of the first things I toyed around with (much less expensive mistakes than some) and was amazed at how easily I could produce nice appearing and tasting omelettes.
So, out came the omelette pan, the butter, the eggs, and the cheese. I heated up my pan and beat the eggs. In went the butter and then the eggs. That's when things stopped going to plan. As I started tilting the pan and giving it the prescribed rapid jerks I managed to slosh eggs all around but wasn't getting them to flip gracefully. When I added the filling and gave the pan a toss I managed to toss some of the filling out of the pan (good thing we have a Rhoomba vacuum!). Deciding it was time to surrender I used a rubber spatula to roll the omelette and transferred it to a plate.
Other than not being rolled, it didn't turn out all that bad and my sous chef, Kathryn, seemed to enjoy it. Kathryn did, however, come close to being demoted and banished from the kitchen. As sat down to eat I saw her opening a bottle of salsa as she asked if I'd mind if she put salsa on it! Giving her my best impression of a teenager's eye roll I sweetly told her that I wouldn't mind if she put Mexican salsa from a jar on her freshly made French omelette. "No sweetie, I wouldn't mind at all." My warm smile and steely-eyed stare while she held the open jar of salsa seemed to do the trick. She put the lid back on the jar and hid it under the table.
Then it was time for round 2. What were the chances I'd mess up a second time? "What went wrong?" I asked myself. I decided that I must not have had the pan completely warmed up so I turned the heat up to high and repeated the process. Well, I didn't actually repeat the process because this time around I managed to toss more ham and cheese onto the stove and floor, had absolutely no success in getting the eggs to roll, and even managed to burn the eggs to a nice brown color. **sigh** Learning from Julia I once again managed to salvage the eggs with a rubber spatula and even added a little butter on top to moisten things up a bit. One of my newest sous chefs, Loralie, ate it with a smile and didn't have any ill effects afterwards (at least none that she admitted).
Only one thing was left to do at that point, I needed to make my omelette. Three's the charm, right? I was sure that one would turn out perfect and give me something nice and photogenic to use on this post. A little more analysis of the previous two omelettes...ah, I must not have had enough butter in the pan. I added a bit more, heated the butter to bubbling and dumped in my eggs. You guessed it -- failure grande. I managed to keep everything inside the pan this time but I scorched the eggs and had them so nice and hard that they were more suited to be a manhole cover than an omelette. I could hear them laughing at me when I tried to coax them into rolling. Bwoooooohaaahaahaaaaa! Nope, not even with the help of the spatula. Perhaps having the pan glowing bright red was a little to hot? I settled for folding the circle of eggs in half and dumped it on a plate. Suddenly Kathryn's salsa seemed much more tempting. At this point I'd given up on any thought of posting a photo of a successful omelette and I didn't even take a photo. Here's one that best represents what it looked like:
After several days of licking my wounds, but definitely not licking my plate, I decided that there must be a lesson in this for me. Quotes began coming to mind. Quotes such as:
- "You need to get right back up on a horse when you fall off."
- "If you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right."
- "Never give up! Never, never give up!"
- "If at first you don't succeed, don't try skydiving."
I decided I wasn't going to be defeated by some liquid protein covered in a hard calcium shell. This morning was my day of cooking redemption. Out came the omelette pan, the eggs, the butter, and a positive (though slightly frightened" attitude. Of course, no one else was home to see if I failed again and I didn't have to write about it if I did but that's beside the point.
I heated up my pan on a "very high" heat. I beat my eggs for 20-30 seconds along with a little salt. I could hear Julia whispering to me (well, actually it was the written words on the page of the book I had open next to the stove...just in case) that I should put in my tablespoon of butter and heat it to the point right before it turned brown and then add my eggs. I did and I let them sizzle for about 3 seconds. The the rapid jerking motion with the pan tilted and 20 degrees began and...it worked! the eggs began to fold over themselves. In went the shredded cheese and, with the pan tilted a little steeper I jerked it a bit more and the eggs rolled over the cheese. One more jerk and it was rolled and ready for the plate!
I added a little celebratory parsley just for fun and enjoyed a lovely Omelette Roulee Au Fromage for breakfast!
I'm pretty sure there's a lesson in here somewhere. The first one is that, just as Julia had warned me, it is important to use a pan big enough that the eggs aren't too deep. Otherwise you just end up with a sloshy layer of eggs that wants to jump out of the pan when you start jerking it back and forth. Next, two eggs is better than three in order to keep it a thin layer. The other big lesson applies to all of the tossing, flipping, rolling motions done with hot pans -- you have to be confident and be committed when you begin the motion. Just like an Olympic athlete, you can question yourself the instant you go off the ski lift. You may, however, question your ability as you tumble down the hillside after falling over (or toss ham and cheese on the floor).
It ends up feeling like Tim Allen was right, "Never give up, never surrender!" is a good battle cry -- it applies
when fighting aliens and it applies when making omelettes. Don't give up my friends...eat your mistakes and move on! That reminds me of a batch of homemade pumpkin ice cream I once made, but that's a different story.
Bon Appetit!
May not look the best, but they were tasty.