Fluffy Omelettes!

[Bertilak]

Who knows how to make a fluffy omelette? Mine always come out a little dense. I'd appreciate some guidance here!

I'm not really interested on suggestions for "stuffing" ingredients -- there are many possibilities to experiment with. I'm concerned with the basic egg part of the omelette and getting that right.

One possible exception to the above. Any opinions on including ingredients into the egg mixture itself vs. simply placing them onto/into the omelett at the end?

 

[Big W]

Add some rice wine to the egg mixture and use olive oil instead of butter in the pan.

 

[Sullybob]

What type of omelet are you trying to make? The three fold where the ingredients are warmed up in a separate pan or the omelet that is folded in half and the ingredients are warmed up and cooked in the same pas as the omelet?

Whip the heck out of your eggs, use a whisk and try to incorporate as much air as possible into the eggs. Don't cook the eggs on high heat, and don't overcook them. If the eggs are overcooked they release moisture and they really firm up. I don't add salt to my eggs until they are almost finished cooking. I think that the salt makes the eggs take on a grainy texture.

 

[Bertilak]

Big W,

I use margarine, but will try a light olive oil. Have no rice wine. Already use a bit of water.

Shawn,

I make the fold-in-half style. I generally only have mushrooms and cheese. Lightly saute the mushrooms, dump them out of the pan, do the eggs then dump the mushrooms back in (and the grated cheese) then fold over.

A little Original Louisiana Hot Sauce when served!

That's my standard easy-to-do requires-no-creativity omelette. I sometimes get fancier with other ingredients.

 

[neville77]

I use margarine, but will try a light olive oil. Have no rice wine. Already use a bit of water.

I have found that a bit of milk helps with fluffiness. You may try that in place of the water.

 

[Mick]

I like the traditional French style omelet (dinner omelet).

1 egg
1 tbl water
salt / pepper

Whip these ingredients together in a bowl

Put a pat of butter into a Teflon pan (one reserved only for making omelets).
When the butter starts to smoke/brown add the egg mixture.
Draw the mixture from the edges to the center until you can no longer do it without causing wrinkles/breaks (you will know)

Add your ingredients across the pan (bias to the handle) starting with any cheese you want to use.

Take the pan by the handle with your thumb on top of the handle further away from the pan (underhand grip)
Turn the pan over (handle over the top) and the omelet will slide onto the plate and fold in half when it drops

Now if you want an American style (fluffy) omlet, use 2 eggs. Substitute about 2-3 tbl of milk instead of water and beat it longer until you get small bubbles. Don't heat the pan as hot as you would for a French omelet. Don't move the egg once it hits the pan (don't draw it to the center).

 

[Walter Sobchak]

As the others have said, a bit of water or milk (or cream) helps. Once the egg is mostly set, I put the cheese & whatever on one side and fold it then cover it for a minute or two on very low heat. The egg will puff right up, a bit like a souffle. Just mind the heat, you don't want to overcook the bottom half.

Two side notes:

If you're filling the omelette with something that would benefit from a thorough cooking, you should do a cook it first in a separate pan. Making the omelette this way doesn't give it time enough to cook the add-ons. Baby spinach, fresh herbs, mushrooms, they all soften up nicely like this, but if you want to take the sting out of onions or mellow some garlic (or whatever), you should first sweat it in another pan.

I find it's helpful to use a silicone spatula to gently pull the edges away from the pan a couple of times while it cooks on low-medium heat. It lets more liquid egg get behind what's set and helps avoid overcooking once you do the 'fold and cover'.

I took this recipe from a friend who is a chef. He usually starts the omelette in a skillet, gets the eggs mostly set and then jams the skillet into a hot oven for a few minutes to get the 'puff' effect. The end result is a little nicer this way, and there's less chance of overdoing the bottom, but I'm lazy and just do it with a covered skillet.

 

[miatapaul]

I use no water or milk. I put 3 eggs, salt and pepper (sometimes some herbs) in a small bowel and break the yokes, and I stir exactly 11 times with a dinner fork. I put a thick pat of butter (definitely not margarine as it has no place in my kitchen and is not useful for cooking IMHO) in the pan, put it on a med flame, let the butter melt and let it bubble, the second it stops bubbling I pour in the eggs and as it initially firms up I do 2 sweeps with a fork front to back and 2 from side to side. I then let it cook shaking frequently if not constantly. Once it is cooked about 3/4 of the way I put in my ingredients and fold it over and let it finish cooking off the burner for a few seconds then slide it on a plate. I like my eggs a bit softer than some. I use an all clad LTD pan, that is used for everything, and have never had any issues with it sticking. If it is sticking I think you are not using enough oil or too high heat. I am not normally one for precision or rote instructions but this has worked for me for thousands of omelets. I used to do it table side at Sunday brunch on a portable burner back in my restaurant days.

Mushrooms and swiss like cheese (what ever I happen to have) is really hard to beat!

 

[Bertilak]

Mushrooms and swiss like cheese (what ever I happen to have) is really hard to beat!

I go for mushrooms and extra sharp Cheddar. I love Cheddar. You can get all kinds of fancy, expensive, cheeses from foreign and/or exotic places but good old extra sharp Cheddar is hard to beat. Swiss does come a close second.

I like Black Diamond brand, one of their longer-aged "reserve" styles. Cabot is also nice.

 

[smalltank]

use butter in a pan..keep the flame very low and covered..flipping should be easy and smooth

 

[saf]

Water will not add anything that will hold the air in the egg mixture, milk will. Think coffee drinks. The 2 biggest problems that people have with fluffy eggs are: Mixing the eggs just getting them mixed isn't enough you need to beat more air in them. Add another 30 secondes of whipping to incorporate more air. Then turn the heat down high heat destroys the air pockets and makes egge dense.

 

[wimbouman]

Here's Jacques Pepins take:

[video]http://youtu.be/57afEWn-QDg[/video]

 

[Mink]

The cooking show, America's Test Kitchen, with Chris Kimball had a special on the perfect French omelette. I can't find it on youTube yet. Anyway, they cut ~1 TBLsp butter into very small cubes and freeze it for about 10 minutes. They used 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk. The whites are mostly protein which is why they can end up rubbery, so the extra yolk adds more fat. They heated the pan with 1 TBLsp oil on low heat for about 10 minutes to get the pan evenly heated (while the butter was in the freezer). They whipped the eggs (80 strokes, they even counted them), gently stirred the butter into the eggs, and cooked for 2 minutes on medium heat. They then took the pan off the heat, added a little chives and cheese, covered it, and left it for 2 minutes. Then, they uncovered it and put the pan on medium heat for about 20 seconds.

I prefer mine folded rather than rolled. It comes out perfectly. No browning, nice and moist, and the butter flavor hasn't been burned or masked. It really is perfect, though it took me a few times to get it right.

 

[miatapaul]

The cooking show, America's Test Kitchen, with Chris Kimball had a special on the perfect French omelette. I can't find it on youTube yet. Anyway, they cut ~1 TBLsp butter into very small cubes and freeze it for about 10 minutes. They used 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk. The whites are mostly protein which is why they can end up rubbery, so the extra yolk adds more fat. They heated the pan with 1 TBLsp oil on low heat for about 10 minutes to get the pan evenly heated (while the butter was in the freezer). They whipped the eggs (80 strokes, they even counted them), gently stirred the butter into the eggs, and cooked for 2 minutes on medium heat. They then took the pan off the heat, added a little chives and cheese, covered it, and left it for 2 minutes. Then, they uncovered it and put the pan on medium heat for about 20 seconds.

I prefer mine folded rather than rolled. It comes out perfectly. No browning, nice and moist, and the butter flavor hasn't been burned or masked. It really is perfect, though it took me a few times to get it right.

Interesting. I like a bit of brown, I think the nutty flavor of browned, but not burned butter adds to the experience.

 

[legrandfromage]

Many years back (college days) when I lived in Syracuse, NY, I used to have omelets at a place near the campus (Marshall Street) that used to make very fluffy omelets by mixing the ingredients in a blender; pretty sure that the mixture had some milk in it. Those omelets were very thick and fluffy, and full of air. My tastes have changed since then and I like/make the more traditional French style omelet now, but back then I really liked those fluffy things. It's also possible that part of the deal was that I typically had them on a Sunday morning after a night of substantial imbibing. If anyone reading this is from Syracuse, I think that the Toddle House used to make omelets the same way and their waffles were also great. Slightly off topic: the best late night/early morning egg dish (on a booze filled stomach) was at a place called Poodle's; a frittata with broccoli in it and and another glass of the spirit of the evening.

 

[aceinyerface]

I was just going to add that Waffle House makes an omelette that is kind of "souffléd". They mix the eggs in an old fashioned shake machine.

 

[kingfisher]

...Whip the heck out of your eggs, use a whisk and try to incorporate as much air as possible into the eggs. Don't cook the eggs on high heat, and don't overcook them. If the eggs are overcooked they release moisture and they really firm up. I don't add salt to my eggs until they are almost finished cooking. I think that the salt makes the eggs take on a grainy texture.

Excellent advice here. The key to a fluffy omelette is whipping the crap out of the eggs with a whisk. Don't put anything into the eggs except a tiny bit of water, a splash of your favorite hot sauce, and fresh-ground pepper. I agree with Sullbob that it is best to add salt when the omelette is just about done.

I use half olive oil, half butter as the lubricant. Gives a nice flavor, too.

 

[miatapaul]

Here's Jacques Pepins take:

[video]http://youtu.be/57afEWn-QDg[/video]

I actually saw that show when it originally aired. My omlets are what he calls a "country style." He does do some good stuff on his show.

 

[_JP_]

Interesting. I like a bit of brown, I think the nutty flavor of browned, but not burned butter adds to the experience.

I have one of those on the counter. I'll have to remember it.

I've found that a tablespoon or so of milk or cream whisked vigorously into the egg lightens up the texture of the omelet. It doesn't have to be exact, I quite often use a little extra liquid.

 

[coyotewhisper]

I whisk the eggs and some milk.