This one time, on the Internet, I watched Jacques Pépin demonstrate the proper creation of a French omelet. It was a five-minute video tutorial, narrated by his dulcet Gallic tones, and yielded a two-egg, tri-fold beauty that all but shimmered on the plate.
I’ve been trying to replicate it ever since, with marginal success. This is partly due to Pépin’s rigid omelet wisdom: The omelet must be cooked in butter, the eggs mixed with water, and only certain herbs used. The inside must be slightly runny. It must not betray a single streak of browning on its exterior. The times I got it all right were, suffice it to say, scarce. There’s a reason the French omelet is considered a mettle-test of any chef’s hand.
In Buvette: The Pleasure of Good Food, Jody Williams will guide you through preparing a French omelet on the stovetop, but she also proposes a different solution: use the oven. In her recipes and work as chef-owner of two restaurants in New York and Paris, also named Buvette, Williams excels at these kind of subtle workarounds. In fact, that subtlety in the face of the staid rigors of French cooking is likely what makes her such an interesting chef. (Meet Williams in person at the next Sauce Celebrity Chef Series event Dec. 8 at The Restaurant at The Cheshire. Details here.)
While thumbing through the cookbook, expect clean layouts and concise recipes, sometimes so intuitively written as to be confusing. But Williams’ voice shines through most every few pages in the form of small pullouts, offering deft solutions for washing basil, making crème fraiche or figuring out what to do with squeezed lemon halves (spoiler: use the remaining juice as hand sanitizer). I tested her French omelet method against Pépin’s, and though I prefer a fluffier texture than Williams’ recipe prescribes, the results were and delicious and easy to pull together.
Omelets are best made by spreading your ingredients on a cutting board beforehand so that you might add pinches or fistfuls as needed. While the oven preheated, I chopped dill, tarragon and chives and whisked eggs.
After buttering the skillet and adding the eggs, I placed it all in the oven. (If your skillet has a plastic handle, be sure to wrap it in foil several times to protect it.) Allow the egg to set about 2 minutes (shake the skillet to be sure), and add any desired extras; I used Virginia ham and Grand Cru cheese. Return to the oven for the remaining cook time.
Plating the omelet requires a slight bit of finesse (see above for my best effort), but it should slide from the skillet and fold neatly. Press down gently with a fork to keep the omelet from springing open. Williams recommends a glass of wine to go with, but on a Saturday morning, a stout shot-and-a-half of espresso works just fine, too.
Omelets Makes 1 omelets
2 large eggs
Coarse salt
3 Tbsp. chopped mixed leafy herbs (I like a mix of chives, chervil and tarragon, but use whatever you like and is fresh)
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Freshly ground black pepper
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Crack the eggs into a bowl and add a large pinch of salt. Vigorously whisk together and stir in two-thirds of the herb mixture. Set the egg mixture aside.
• In a small, 6-inch diameter saute pan set over medium heat, melt the butter. (If your pan is not well seasoned you may need more butter.)
• As the butter melts, tilt the pan to make sure the butter evenly coats the pan. Pour in the whisked eggs and continue cooking over medium heat until the eggs begin to set, but are not cooked through, roughly 3 minutes, keeping in mind that the eggs will continue cooking off the heat. This is the point where you can add Parmigiano-Reggiano and butter, ham and Gruyere, or goat cheese and leeks if you wish. A good omelet will have a creamy texture and remain bright yellow.
• Season with salt and pepper, and then begin to fold the omelets.
• To remove the omelets, tilt the pan toward the serving plate and gently free it with a spatula until it slides halfway onto the plate. Now fold it over onto itself to form a half-moon. Serve sprinkled with the remaining 1tablespoon herbs and an additional pinch of salt.
• Recipe Note: If you are making omelets for more than one, I suggest using your oven as I do at Buvette. It is a fast and easy way to make a beautiful omelet. Begin by melting the butter in a small pan on the stovetop as above, but when you add the eggs, transfer the pan to a 400 degree oven to continue cooking, about 5 minutes. If you wish to fill your omelet with spinach or leeks, etc., do so as soon as it sets and then return it to the oven to finish cooking. Remove and follow the instructions for plating above.
Excluding ham, cheese and peppers, what goes in your perfect omelet? Tell us in the comments below for a chance to win a copy of Buvette!
This article appears in November 2014.