Saturday, January 16, 2010

Julia Child OMELETTE - 1 Minute Til Heaven on a Fork

OMG... I spent most of yesterday afternoon saying Oh My god! Listen, I am an experienced cook (well, 8 months worth anyway), but even before I started cooking 100% of the family meals, I could make an omelette. I have been eating out for 50 years, and I have eaten at my share of omelette bars for breakfast. The idea that I could learn a new technique that would improve my omelette making skills was possible, but the idea that my omelette world would be turned upside down seemed remote at best. Yesterday, my Omelette world was turned upside down.

First, credit where credit is due...

I have many favorite bloggers, but certainly among my very favorite is MYSTERY LOVERS KITCHEN. The site features several published mystery novel writers who alternate posting recipes. All of their books feature recipes as part of a plot point, so it is a natural fit.

Yesterday, CLEO COYLE, author of the COFFEEHOUSE MYSTERY SERIES, as well as the HAUNTED BOOKSHOP SERIES hosted her day of their "mystery" ingredient week (eggs). She did a post on omelettes... Julia Child Omelettes.

Now, I will be honest, I read about 100 blogs a day. Many I read every word, many I glance at the topic and move on, but a few I dig deeply into the blog and see what they have to share that I can glean and ad to my abilities. I have no idea why, but this post told me to take a closer look.

A picture is worth a thousand words (hmmm, I wonder if professional writers ever use that saying, as they get paid for using words... but I digress...), and a video is worth ten thousand words... But a Julia Child video should be worth a hundred thousand words. Cleo shared this Youtube video...



It's a quick lesson from her old "The French Chef" series. And that quick lesson changed the way I make omelettes FOREVER. I am going to guess that half of you have already stopped reading, and another half of those will not watch the video... But, if you watch this... You will want to try this "her" way.

Real quick, here's what I did...

I Followed the instructions in the video (and there is a multi page chapter on making Omelettes in Julia's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking").

The actual cooking only takes 30 seconds or less, so have the eggs whisked before...

Turn burner to HIGH and melt 1 tablespoon of BUTTER

Coat the pan, and just as the butter starts to turn brown

Pour the eggs on the top of the butter and count to 20 slowly

Start manipulating the pan so that the egg rolls up on itself

Plate, add some grated cheese if you like

This is called a French flat omelette, as opposed to a "puffy" souffle style omelette that I have been making. The key is the short cooking time. DO NOT OVER COOK THE EGGS. The eggs come out tender, moist, filled with butter flavor and just incredible.

Julia (and Cleo) is a genius. I can not believe anyone makes eggs any other way.


And you should be able to guess this, but Jackie got me a copy of Julia's cookbook from the library. There were two different giveaways for a copy of this book last week, I didn't win either. I was bemoaning my poor luck, and Jackie brought this home for me to at least take a look at before I buy another grilling book. So, if this book is in the kitchen, can Boef Bourguignon be far behind???

31 comments:

  1. Don't you just love her?! She makes it look so easy. My Ole Sweetie-Pi loves omelets. You've convinced me to try this method as we usually go for the puffy style, but hey, never said I wasn't adaptable to new ideas, grins.

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  2. Like Katy-- you have convinced me to try this method as well. And I will look at the video!

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  3. I am on the hunt for the cookbook as well. I am bound and determined to find it at Goodwill or something (wishful thinking). I really want to try these eggs but I have a ceramic cooktop - I wonder if it will scratch it.

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  4. I love Julia... I don't make omelettes her way... but I do love omelettes and will have to try her way... I must say it's is different!

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  5. What a cool post! I have trouble with omelettes so I usually just do over easy or scrabbled.

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  6. Not only am I going to have to give these omelets a try, I have to check out that Mystery Lover's blog. Sounds very cool! Thanks!

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  7. Whoa.... Dave, I loved this post. Which I did read from beginning to end by the way. I'll give this omelette technique a try. Thanks!

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  8. I read it all and watched the video. As you know, I love breakfast food and am in a firm beliver in big soft curds of moist eggs, but I'd never seen it done like that and will give it a try. I wonder if you do it just the same if you want it stuffed with ham, cheese and mushrooms - for example.

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  9. I'm on my second omelette pan, and am convinced they are close to worthless! A plain griddle seems to work fine..

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  10. Thanks so much for the mention, Dave! I loved Cleo's post and YouTube clip, too. Julia tossing the pan on the floor gave me a huge laugh. :)

    Riley/Elizabeth
    Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen
    Mystery Writing is Murder

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  11. This looks wonderful, Dave. I'll bet it was delicious.

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  12. That omlette looks awesome! Eggs are my favorite breakfast food....YUM! Julia Child...I still need to see that movie. I hear it is really good.

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  13. I love a good French omelette! Somehow, last weekend I managed to make a perfect one. I hope one day to repeat it!

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  14. i'm going to comment on your blog, and then i'm going straight into the kitchen to make one! thank you so much for posting this, and you should make beof borguignon, i really want to hear how you like it!

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  15. omelette done! it was SOOO good, and really only does take a minute!

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  16. I saw her do those on a repeat of her original b&w show a couple months ago. Good times. The omelet looks great!

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  17. I have a DVD set of her cooking shows The French Chef. One Saturday morning I was sitting around drinking coffee and was watching a couple of shows. She made that omelet and I had to get up right then and there and give it a try. It was so easy, it worked like a charm and I was so excited that it turned out perfect. I use the method religiously.

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  18. thanks for stopping by my blog food for thought, looking forward to seeing what you are reading! one peek around here and you can tell instantly you love to cook!

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  19. Just popping in to see what kind of good stuff you've had going on here this week - that lobster pot pie has to be my favorite of the week, yummy! :-)

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  20. Dave, you are THE BEST! I am tickled neon pink that you loved Julia's omelette show enough to dedicate a whole post to it.

    I LOVE these comments, too!!! Notice how Teresa posted at 2:03 PM that she was going to try the omelette and at 2:12 PM she posted success. That's one quick turnaround on a recipe test. :)

    Thank you so much for the MLK mention, and posting my Holiday Grind cover makes you a Biblio Prince in my book.

    Cheers,
    Happy Omelette Making,
    and Happy Grillin' in the New Year...

    ~Cleo Coyle
    author of The Coffeehouse Mysteries
    Coffeehouse Mystery.com
    “Where coffee and crime are always brewing…”
    Cleo Coyle on Twitter

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  21. Classic Julia.

    Omelets were one of the first things I ever learning to cook because it was one of the few dishes that my mom didn't make.

    Never tried her method like that, hot and fast. I'll try it out.

    Didn't you love how she just throws the omelet pan to the ground when she is explaining which pan to get?

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  22. I will definitely try Julia's omelette and maybe add a little crawfish, too! :)
    Cool video and merci beaucoup, cher, for the intro to Cleo and her fun blog!

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  23. I remember watching her on PBS demonstrate these omelets. I think I need one right now.

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  24. I saw that post of Mystery Lover's Kitchen too, and marked it. Now I'm marking yours. I have got to try them this way!

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  25. As part of the zero percent who have both read this post and watched the video and now is watching other Julia Child videos, I can't wait to give this a try.

    You and Julia did a good job convincing us.

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  26. I love that video! And yes, Julie's way is a great one but you sure better have everything ready if you intend to fill that omelet cuz you gotta move fast!! And you need a great non-stick omelet skillet too. Her cookbook should be in everybody's kitchen in my humble opinion. You will learn much from it. When the movie came out I did a giveaway of that cookbook myself! I think girlichef won it if I recall correctly. You'll be an omelet making expert in no time!!

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  27. wow I have to give it a go, the omelette looks so tender and cooked just right!

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  28. Love this blog and I even watched the whole video! Fabulous - can't wait to try making omelettes this way. Thanks for the info:)

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  29. Your photo composition is getting better and better! :) Those omelettes rocked. They look perfectly cooked. Julia would be proud.

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  30. Thank you for posting this! I know I make my omelets incorrectly, but every "correct" version seemed to take forever and a day. (Who can wait that long for breakfast???) I think I can handle this. :)

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  31. That Julia . . . she was a peach! I told Mr. H about this method and he wants to watch the video. Thanks for sharing!

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