Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 tablespoon butter, plus a knob to finish
- A pinch of fine salt
- Black pepper
- Chives, cheese or herbs, if you want them
Equipment. 8 to 9 inch non stick or well seasoned skillet, Fork, chopsticks or a silicone spatula, Warmed plate
Method
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the salt and pepper. Whisk with a fork for about 30 seconds, until the colour is even and no ribbons of white are left.
- Set the pan over low heat and let it come up slowly. A cold pan rushed over high heat has hot spots, and ten minutes on low gets rid of them.
- Add the butter. Wait for the foaming to subside and swirl it to coat the base. Do not let it brown.
- Pour in the eggs. They should sizzle faintly rather than crackle.
- Stir constantly with a fork in small circles for 45 to 90 seconds, scraping cooked egg off the sides. Shake the pan now and then so the loose egg finds the gaps.
- Stop while the top is still glossy and loose. Smooth it into an even layer with a spatula.
- Scatter over any filling and turn the heat off. Either cover the pan for 1 to 2 minutes or roll the omelette straight away from the handle side.
- Tip it onto a warmed plate, seam side down, and rub the top with a knob of butter.
What size pan do you need?
Allow about one inch of pan for each egg, plus five. Two eggs need a 7 to 8 inch pan and three eggs an 8 to 9 inch. Four eggs need a 10 inch pan and six eggs a 12 inch.
A pan that is too big spreads the eggs thin and they set before you can move them. A pan that is too small leaves the base overcooked while the top is still liquid.
Use non stick if you have it. A stainless pan can do the job, but it needs more fat and a better hand.
How hot should the pan be?
Lower than most people run it, and heated slowly. Melt the butter over low heat and do not let it colour.
An evenly heated pan matters more than a hot one. A pan blasted for 90 seconds has a scorching ring where the burner sits and cool edges, and the omelette records both.
Listen to the eggs. They should whisper when they hit the pan. If they crackle, the pan is too hot and you will get brown patches.
How long do you whisk the eggs?
About 30 seconds, until the mixture is one colour and you cannot see strands of white.
Under whisked eggs cook into a marbled omelette with rubbery streaks running through it, because the white sets a few degrees before the yolk.
You do not need milk. A splash makes a softer curd, but it also turns to steam and can leave the omelette wet and spongy.
Season the eggs in the bowl rather than the omelette on the plate. Salt has to dissolve through the mixture to do anything useful.
Butter or oil?
Butter, for the flavour. The catch is that the milk solids in it brown at a lower temperature than most oils.
Clarified butter or ghee has those solids taken out, so it takes more heat before it burns. It tastes more concentrated too.
Half a tablespoon is enough for three eggs in a non stick pan. Any more pools at the edges and fries the rim while the middle steams.
When do you take it out of the pan?
While it still looks slightly underdone. Eggs keep cooking after the heat goes off, and an omelette that looks set in the pan is dry on the plate.
Covering the pan off the heat for one minute gives a runnier omelette. Two minutes gives a firmer one. Neither toughens the eggs the way another minute on the burner would.
You can also skip the lid and roll it straight out. The roll and the trip to the plate finish the cooking.
Why did my omelette come out rubbery?
Too much heat, nearly always. Egg proteins set gently between about 145F and 160F, and past that they tighten and squeeze out the water they were holding.
A pan that is too big for the egg count is the other common cause. The layer is so thin that it overcooks before you can react.
Leaving it in the pan while you fetch a plate does it too. The pan is still hotter than the eggs are.
Turn the heat down a notch, use a smaller pan, and stop about 30 seconds earlier next time.