How to Make an Omelet

Oh dear! It seems the differences between an omelet and l'omelette consist in more than their spelling. An omelet, we see, is scrambled egg that has been allowed to set slightly on the pan so it can be rolled up and served neatly alongside a salad rather than poured onto hot buttered toast. The perfect omelette is a different beast altogether: barely stirred, hot, speckled golden, firm on the outside yet soft and unctuous in the centre, and folded just in half...

But then as Elizabeth David wrote: "As everybody knows, there is only one infallible recipe for the perfect omelette: your own. Reasonably enough; a successful dish is often achieved by quite different methods from those advocated in cookery books or by the professional chefs, but over this question of omelette making professional and amateur cooks alike are particularly unyielding. Argument has never been known to convert anybody to a different method, so if you have your own, stick to it and let others go their cranky ways, stubborn and ignorant to the end."

I've been making some mediocre omeletes for a long time know, after watching this lesson, I haven't been able to stop making myself delicious omletes. You're absolutely right about leaving eggs a bit wet, the texture of the finished product is fantastic.

I saw on food tv some chefs making great omelets using stainless steel pans ?? is this possible or is there a secret to it ???

This is indeed possible and yes there is a trick to it. Using stainless steel (or carbon-steel) pans can be tricky, which is why we devoted a whole topic in lessons to "Pans for Making Omelets".

In this topic (topic 2) we go through the reasons why they are used and why they are tricky. I am still an advocate of non-stick though.

Hope this helps...good luck!

I took your lesson and taught my wife how to also do this sort of omelet. Then, we took a couple table top gas stoves, a couple of pans, five dozen eggs and a variety of cheeses and herbs and ran an omelet bar at our church between services. I was great fun and seemed appreciated by all. We served about 30 people.

My method for making omelets is quite similar to the one in the video, but I have a "cheat" *(truc) I employ. Just about the time the eggs get to the point where the shaking begins in the video, I instead place the pan right up under the broiler in my oven for about thirty seconds. This firms the eggs from the top down, without all that work. I then pull the pan out, put the toppings on, and put it back under the broiler just until the cheese melts.

Of course, this probably wouldn't work at a church omelet bar. Somehow dragging a toaster oven along would just seem to lack the proper atmosphere.:)

Anyway, this method allows me to produce a very light, fluffy omelet without having it be so runny in the middle. It also gives a perfectly smooth finish to the outside, rather than the rather wrinkly ones shown in the video.

Although it is my understanding that omelets should not be speckled, at least if you're going to be snooty about it, speckling can be easily achieved by using whole butter and cooking the omelet a little quicker. The speckles occur where the milk solids are, which is why people in the unspeckled camp suggest the use of clarified butter. When cooking at home, I don't really care whether omelets are speckled or not, and I can easily eliminate the speckles whole butter can cause by simply being patient and turning down the heat a little. But, if I'm in a hurry, regarding speckles, who really cares?

In many professional kitchens, wrinkly omelets "like my grandmother's underwear" are also frowned upon. But, it all tastes the same, so, again, at home, who cares?

As an aside, although I know such greats as Tony Bourdain use the word, I really wish people who want to apply "unctuous" to the description of food would look the word up. To quote Inigo Montoya: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." :)

Oh, and by the way, the possibilities for fillings are indeed endless, save one thing. Don't try tuna as a filling, unless you really think cat food smells pretty darned yummy. :)

Been trying to make a perfect omelet for many years and finally succeeded (IMHO) after taking your lesson. I usually try and fill with whatever is left in the fridge. So today, a delicious turkey and swiss omelet was my reward for stumbling upon this site and your lesson. Thanks!

I'm still fairly new to cooking, and this lesson has been a godsend!

Having a bit of trouble folding the omelette to be as beautiful as the ones on the video... I'm sure after practice I'll get better at this.

And I've never had an omelette so soft in the middle before. Utterly delicious!

My wife is vehemently against all the non-stick pans since she associates them with unhealthy chemicals. Personally, I don't see much problem with them so long as they aren't overheated.

Anyway, she wanted an omelet this morning so I gave it a try. I was really surprised that it left such a nice clean pan despite it being SS! I will keep working on this and see if I can continue to replicate it more in the future. FWIW, I was successful with grilled onions and hash brown potatoes yesterday also, no sticking, and I was even able to flip them in the pan saute-style, which is really liberating rather than turning everything by hand. I would love to be able to do more 'non-stick required' cooking on SS, if possible, but I owe these recent successes to Rouxbe's excellent instruction. Thanks Rouxbe!

Are any of you aware of a healthy, durable, nonstick on the market? I see a lot of different ones but have no idea which is better - eclipse, ecopan ptfe-free, etc. We do have well-seasoned cast-iron, but I get lazy sometimes and just don't want to get non-stick cooking quickly without worrying about things! Any suggestions?

Good question about the non-stick pans Eric. I actually started a new forum post on this subject (on your behalf of course, I hope you don't mind).

Sounds like you are making some serious headway with those stainless steel pans of yours though. Nice work!!!

OMG!! I just made my first omelette using your technique, my boyfriend was very impressed and absolutely loved it! I bought my first non-stick pan yesterday and I already know my boyfriend is reaping all the benefits of my cooking. Thank you!

Add mine to the chorus of thanks! I had just realized that, in all my years of cooking, I had never made an omelette. With it being spring, the DH asked for an omelette with fines herbes for dinner and I froze. A tagine? Pate feuillete? Halibut in beurre blanc? Check, check, check. But an omelette? Never.
Oh Rouxbe, how you rode on your white horse and came to the rescue! Thank you thank you.
Here's a question though:even on the lowest heat, the omelette set up a lot faster than I expected: about 30-45 seconds..is this normal?
Also, after shaking and stirring, I couldn't get the eggs to spread across the pan like in the video. They were still quite wet, it's just that the ratio of wet to set was such that there was not enough wet to spread on the whole pan. I'd love some tips!

So glad we could help! Now, as for your questions, I think the first one about it setting faster than the video just comes down to the fact that every ones stove-tops are different. That being said, ours does run pretty hot, even on low as it is gas. Perhaps next time try taking the pan off of the heat every now and then during cooking. This will just slow down the cooking process and give you a bit more time to perfect your new skills.

Second question I think you answered yourself. Next time you might want to stop early to spread out the eggs. The thing with making a good omelette is practice and then more practice.

Keep up the good work and happy omelette making!!

I was trying to replicate this technique, but no matter what I tried when it came time to roll the omelet out to form a nice roll after letting the eggs set for a while, the egg sticked and ripped my omelet. I was pulling hair out as I tried a couple of my different non-stick pans, nothing worked.

Then I got out to my favorite restaurant supply store, got a Bourgeat non-stick pan and voila, problem went away.

I can clearly feel the difference in the non-stick surfaces. My other non-stickers have a rough texture, but the bourgeat is like ice. That's one of the advantages of shopping at stores that supplies restaurants, what's there works, it _has_ to. Some stuff are a little bit more expensive because it has to stand up to a lot of abuse, but at home it will last a lifetime.

i tried two omelets today and both stuck to the pan. I used a cheap old non stick pan and followed the steps. I still managed to get a good consistency in the omelet and no browning but... Perhaps my pan is no good?

Indeed. I believe it was your pan. As we say in the lesson you need to have a good non-stick pan, meaning one that is in good condition.

I say this from experience as I also have some good non-stick pans that are no longer good for making omelets as they have some minor scratches that now cause a bit of sticking for me.

Hope this helps - cheers!

I am having a bit of trouble mastering the French omelet and am looking for help. Once my egg starts to set it quickly turns into a mush-like consistency without any wetness (though it does not taste dry). So, I'm getting nice small curds, but the omelet does not set at all. It comes out of the pan looking a bit like grits. Pretty much delicious scrambled eggs.

I am using a non-stick skillet with a little bit of olive oil set on low heat on an electric range.

Would this be happening if I am using too few eggs or too large of a pan?

Perhaps the heat needs to be slightly higher. The heat could be a bit too low on your stove. By continually stirring over lower heat, you will produce a more scrambled egg like texture. That being said, it could also be the amount of eggs you are using, whether they are fresh or not, and/or the size of your pan.

Review the lesson one more time as there may be something you missed or have forgotten. Next time, try turning up the heat a tiny bit. Just keep in mind that you may have to work a bit faster. It's all about finding the right heat and process to produce the results, so this is where the practice comes in. Keep up the good work, you'll get there! Let us know how it goes or if you have any other questions. Cheers!

After several attempts with increasingly positive results, I started to consider myself fairly proficient at making omelets.

Then, I made the mistake of trying to impress my Mom by making one over at her house. It's easy to forget just how important it is to have a decent pan for certain things and she didn't have anything resembling a decent pan. The omelets turned out edible, but not exactly what I would call impressive.

The moral of the story: If you're not on your home turf, stick to scrambled eggs!

First of all, thanks for an excellent resource.

However, I'm having some trouble getting this perfect. First of all I can't scrape of the sides with my spatula but I guess I just need to buy a spatula with a round edge.

Second, should I heat the pan to a high temperature to make the oil shimmer or not? Because I want to cook at a low temperature it seems like the pan becomes very hot if I do. However if I don't I need to use a lot of oil to cover the pan. Should I start with the oil at a low temperature, or start high and then take it of the stove when I pour in the egg?

The problem I'm having is that either the egg sticks and get a little burned, or it becomes a little rubbery.

Thanks,

Fabian.

Oh and also, when I turn of the temperature to let the egg rest - should I take the pan off the stove or not?

A general request: when you mention temperatures in your videos it would be nice if you could put the Celsius measurement in text in the corner of the video, to help us stupid Europeans out a little bit. ;-)

Thanks,

Fabian

Fabian I see that you are a fairly new user to Rouxbe so if you don't mind I would like to ask you a couple of questions. First, how many times did you watch the lesson on "How to Make an Omelet"? Second, how many times did you practice making on omelet? I ask these question as much of the learning comes from watching the lesson a few times (maybe more) and also from practicing. Cheers!

p.s. We do not put text over our player as we want the learning to be as clean and clutter-free as possible. We do however add the Celsius to all the text recipes. The reason we do not say it as it gets to be too much (we have tried it)...imagine hearing "the heat should be between 190 degrees to 210 degrees Fahrenheit or between 87 degrees to 98 degrees celsius"...the message just gets lost as you are only hearing numbers coming at you. Besides much of cooking is not about exact temperatures. It more about learning and practicing the techniques.

Well, I will be tomorrow after I repeat the success of my first omelet for my girlfriend tomorrow morning. Yes, my first omelet, my secret omelet—made and eaten just now—was prepared away from her prying eyes. Thanks Rouxbe!

Just want to say that I love Paul B's idea of the Omelet Bar. Great idea. Learn it and share it.
Also, thanks to you Rouxbe. I love your cooking school.

I was wondering why salt is added at the beginning and not at the end like for scrambled eggs? Isn't it breaking the protein (perhaps the egg-white omelette was so wet because of that also)?
Thanks for the great cooking techniques explanations.

After many failed attempts and many more times watching the video, I have finally made a successful French omelet! A new pan helped, but the main thing was the practice. I think my main problem was knowing when to stop agitating the egg to let it rest.

Fabian - I use butter on medium-low heat. I put the butter into the cold pan and add the eggs when the butter melts. When I let the eggs rest, I turned off the heat but left the pan on the burner, since the burner was only on medium-low heat. Mainly, the "secret" is in the practice, with a little experimentation to find out what works for your stove and pan.

Hopefully I'll be able to repeat my success for the family!

I find the work involved in following the Rouxbe method does not have the payoff it should. I learned to cook great omelettes by watching the chefs in Las Vegas buffets. They never stir the omelette, but let it "set" without stirring, just a little circling of the pan, and lifting of the edge. The omelette develops a beautiful sheen at which time the filling is added and folding begins. Lots of different folding methods, but my favorite is folding 1/3rd to the center, fold the opposite 1/3rd to the center (envelope style) and allowing the cheese and fillings to ooze out a little as it gets transferred to the plate.

Don't get me wrong, yours are good... just a little too high of a work/reward ratio.

An omelet was one of the first things I ever learned to cook on my own because they were one of the few things my mother wouldn't make. So after 30plus years, I was rather set in my ways. I made them somewhat like Leigh S prefers in the previous comment.

This morning I tried the method taught here, very skeptically I might add. Color me impressed. I liked the texture and color much better, the taste was equal. Good job folks!

1. Why is it important to remove the water containt of mushrooms or peppers ect?

2. Can you use an electric griddle to make omelets or only pans?

Thank You.

Excess moisture can cause the eggs to be waterlogged. I would not attempt an omelet on a flat electric griddle - there are no rounded edges to roll the omelet. You can try, but it might be tricky. Cheers!

How hot should your pan be before adding the fat/oil? Should the water ball test be performed, or was that just for pan-frying meat so it doesn't stick?
Thanks!

The heat should be at about medium to medium low (from Topic 3). You do not want to perform the water test here as that would be too high of heat, which would be bad for the omelet and bad for the non-stick pan. Cheers!

I've made two omelets since watching the video and they turned out pretty good. I've never been able to make one before. The only trouble I had was folding/rolling it, as it fell apart a bit, but I'm sure I'll get better with practice, and it still looked nicer than any I've tried to make before

Hi Marybeth... That's awesome. Going from "I've never been able to make one before" to pretty good is a major accomplishment. Have been a professional cook/chef for 25 years, I have to say, it took me many dozens of omelets before I could make one pretty good. And I still often mess up the rolling part.

Like everything in cooking, practice makes perfect. Great work.

My stove is ceramic-top electric and I dare not shake the pan as shown or my stove top will be ruined. What should I do instead?
Sherry F.

Stir it instead and if need be your could take it off of the element to shake it. The more your practice the more comfortable you will get with omelet making no matter what your stove top is like. Cheers!

I made three omlets for me and my two kids today. One turned out perfect :-)

I want to do this for my family of five, but is there a way to keep omlets warm, or do I just not eat with them?

Thanks,
Jen

Unfortunately, omelets are best eaten as soon as they are made. You could experiment by making an omelet and then place it into a warm oven for about 10-20 mins (depends on how long it would take for you to cook the rest of the omelets). Then make another omelet and when you are done with that compare it to the one in the oven and see if you (and/or your family) notices a difference. Hope this helps. Cheers!

I watched the video on brining and did my first chicken yesterday (what have I been missing). Today, I watched the omelet video and will use some left over chicken breast to make a chicken, mushroom, and swiss omelet....woo hoo!!!

Well I found out the hard way trying to make omelets that I have a horrible "non-stick" pan. And I have non-stick in quotes because the omelet stuck. But aside from it looking horrible the omelet was very good. Now heading to Amazon.com for better non-stick pans :)

I plan to practice making an omelette for lunch today. Should the eggs be used straight out of the fridge or brought to room temperature as in baking?

I've always been good at making omelets but i've always used nonstick pans. tomarrow i'm going to try using a stainless stell pan and i will let you know how it turns out

The eggs should be used from directly from the refrigerator. The reason they are brought to room temperature for baking is because they often need to be the same temperature as the rest of the ingredients. Cheers!

Success! My first time making a 'real' omelette and it was heavenly; nice and creamy inside, no browning outside. Not perfect yet, as it stuck to the pan just a bit so didn't role quite as easily as shown in the lesson, but so much better than what I was making. Now the challenge will be to convert my partner - he prefers his eggs well done.
I have a suggestion for some really nice and heavy non-stick pans, called Heritage. I don't know about the states but in Canada I believe they're only a available at Canadian Tire.
Thanks for the info about egg temperature, Dawn.

My husband has been bugging me for months to learn how to make an omelet. After I took the lesson, I tried it this morning making a basic ham and cheese omelet. It was good practice on the ham to practice the knife rolling technique! I need more practice on folding the omelet but I know that just takes time. The most important part was that the consistency was right and they tasted very good!

Now I have a special pan for eggs only!!!! Great lesson, I learned a lot and will continue to improve my skills.

I'm not exactly a safety-nut, but I was wondering about the drill-down referring to the FDA's web site where it says " . . . Cook eggs until both the yolk and the white are firm. Scrambled eggs should not be runny. . . "

Yet, the eggs in this video as well as the one for scrambled show eggs that aren't exactly "firm". One of the first things I did when becoming a Rouxbe student was make "French" scrambled eggs and a classic French omelet, and I haven't keeled over yet. But I'm curious as to what level of concern I should have when preparing cooked eggs.

Actually, I have become rather fond (no pun intended Dawn) of my new "French" mode of preparing eggs and don't want to surrender to paranoia - but I don't want to check-out early either.

Sorry, I can imagine this subject might open a real can of worms here. But then this is a cooking school right? We can handle it . . . we'll saute 'em!

Yes, according to the FDA and its Canadian version, we should all eat fully-cooked proteins to ensure that all pathogens are killed by heat (yet viruses in food are not killed by heat); so, no more runny eggs, raw oysters, sushi, tartare and so on. The reason, of course, is that the FDA is trying to protect all of us from food poisoning. There are two ways to do that: educate people on the small risks associated to eating less than fully-cooked proteins; or, the easier one is to tell all, only to eat fully-cooked proteins - the "blanket"approach.

If you are using fresh, non-cracked shell eggs and you are in good health (meaning that you are not recovering from a surgery or any other reason why your immune system should be compromised), then there should be absolutely no problems; yet, this being a public forum let me be clear that we (Rouxbe) do not suggest that you consume less than fully-cooked proteins and that if you do, you are taking some degree of risk in doing so. This is coming from someone who eats sushi, tartare, runny omelettes and raw oysters. Hope this helps!

AWESOME!!

That was the best answer ever! Accurate, encouraging, and politically correct too! Now, back to my perfectly prepared French omelet.

Thank you, Christophe, for the perfectly sauteed worms ;o)

Tthe risk of getting into a car accident on the way to the store to buy the eggs is probably higher than the risk of getting seriously ill from eating the eggs undercooked. Personally, I'll enjoy my omelet runny and accept the minute risk involved.

I'm with you guys. I'll risk a little for the better tasting omelet. I wouldn't say they are runny, but I would definitely say I cook them less than before. Whenever I make scrambled eggs or an omelet for my husband (who can't even boil water!!) he just raves.

I've tried to teach him to cook but he doesn't want to learn. I don't mind doing all the cooking - he cleans up the kitchen!!!!

I have learned how to make so many different types of eggs through this course. I have NEVER been able to make an omelet. My omelets always turned into scrambled eggs. My youngest son doesn't like scrambled eggs and therefore never eats them. After these courses I have found a few different ways that he like them and he really likes omelets. He even asks for them in the morning and he hardly ever eats breakfast unless its cereal, something I can't mess up, lol. Actually all my boys (I have 3) are starting to eat breakfast now. What a wonderful discovery I made finding this website. Thank you.

Okay this omlet project did cause quite the debate in my exctended family. Now I tried cooking omlets in cast iron (because that is what I have in a six inch pan). The first one I made came the closest, but every one after came out worse. So disheartening. However every one in the family had an opinion on what makes an omlette and no one accept my Mother agread with the school. Most of them prefer the stuff you get in a truck stop. I prefer the french omelet with a little cheese to the overcroweded frittada. I am going to have to put a six inch steal pan on my shopping list for my future kitchen.
In the mean time is there any way to make this work in cast iron on an electric glass top stove? That is what i have to use in the kitchen were I currently cook.

While making an omelet in a cast iron or carbon steel pan in possible (and even preferred by some) it is far easier to do it in a nonstick aluminum pan. You can get one for under $30.00 that will do an excellent job (I use Tramontina Commercial pans available at BB&B). I use that pan for eggs exclusively. Also, try to remember that whatever you learn here actually does get better the more you use the knowledge. Good luck, and hang in there!

Just signed up here to learn proper techniques for cooking and so far like the lessons very much. I went through the knife lessons first, but my wifes Cutco set has never been sharpened (and she has had them from at least 6 years!). So sending those off for sharpening before practicing the cutting (did not want to sharpen myself this time around). So needed something else to work on in the meantime. Figured a good place to start was with the eggs - since it was morning and I was hungry :-). Then I went straight to the kitchen and tried out making an omelet. I have tried making them before, using no real technique, and they always were quite horrible. This time... PERFECT! Looked just like the one in the video - first try. It was DELICIOUS!

Tank you to Rouxbe i can make the omelette of my dream.
very jung in Paris i still remember the cigar shape omelette.
Unfortunately they don' t exist anymore.
One thing i remember the cook just to do , is Vernissage,when omelette is ready you take some butter on top of your fork ant gently massage the omelette, that make a shiny look.
Sorry for my English i am Italian.

Love

Giovanni

I purchased a deBuyer 8"/ 20cm pan to make omelettes per the recommendation in the video. But after receiving it in the mail it seems too small. Due to the sloping sides of the shape of this pan, do I need a 10" instead?

Thanks,
Robin

Not sure of that particular brand but most often an 8" pan is plenty big enough, for a single omelette. Out of curiosity, have you tried making an omelette with your new pan yet? If it seems too small then perhaps you will need a size bigger or try another brand. Again, hard for us to say as we have not used that particular pan. Cheers!

Just tried making my first official omelette. I've made frittata's by the hundreds but not just an egg omelette. I've never underestimated anything so greatly. How tough can chucking some eggs in a pan be? Well, very difficult is the answer. They turned to scrambled eggs after only a few seconds. I tried to rescue them and took them off the heat entirely and tried to smooth them out but no good. They were ruined.

I think I used the same size pan that you have in the video. I used only 2 eggs though which I think is a mistake. Obviously the heat was too high. Better luck next time.

Ah yes, the omelette. Our professional students usually have to sacrifice one or two before they get it somewhat right. It can humble even the most versed cook. Pan size and heat does indeed play a big role.

David, can I make a suggestion? Lose the term "chucking". Cooking is all about keen, deliberate, precise, conscious actions. Chucking is what we do when disaster is disposed of in the garbage.

A couple of things I do like from your comments. 1) that you tried to rescue your eggs, and 2) that there will be a next time. Happy crackin' !

I need to explain that "chucking" something in a pan is pretty much something most British people like myself do. You're right however, I need to know how I'm doing it, why I'm doing it, when i'm doing it and what will happen. No more chucking!