For professionals and home cooks alike, one of the preferred ways to test your cooking skills remains how well you treat the humblest of ingredients. One, in particular, that is often a benchmark for chefs worldwide is how well they can cook an egg. While devilishly simple on the surface, most of the time you’ll find overconfidence ruining your efforts to make a fluffy egg. One of the most challenging aspects of utilizing the humble egg is cooking a perfect omelet.
Omelets offer a wonderful combination of nutritious egg flavor with a relatively blank canvas to add additional ingredients to make it stand out. Want a southwest option? Or perhaps you want to go with something more Mediterranean? The opportunities are endless, but it can be incredibly easy to overcook your omelet or add one too many components and completely overwhelm your dish. So what is the anatomy of a perfectly cooked omelet? We’re here to break it down for you.
Decide on the Fillings — and Cook Them Ahead of Time
If you’re going to supplement your omelet with additional ingredients, you need to take a good long look at them. If they’re greens, vegetables, or cheese, you can allow them to cook in the pan with the eggs since they don’t require long cooking times. However, for things like sausage, bacon, or other proteins, having them pre-cooked ahead of time is essential. Unlike other meals, you can’t cook them at the same time as your eggs. In the time it takes to cook your proteins, the egg will become overcooked and inedible.
Whisk the Eggs
The key to a perfectly cooked omelet comes down to how well you prepare the eggs before they ever hit the pan. Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, season with salt and pepper (add a little extra kick if you want some extra spice), and carefully combine the eggs with either a fork or a small whisk.
Coat the Pan
Get some butter or the cooking spray of your choice, and bring your pan to medium heat. Coat the pan while it’s heating up, and have your egg mixture ready. Once your pan has gotten hot enough, pour the mixture and begin moving the cooked egg from the edge of the pan to the center. Regularly tilt and rotate your pan to ensure any empty spaces get filled with uncooked eggs and create a smooth surface for cooking.
Add the Fillings
Now that your fluffy bed of cooked eggs is filled out and ready to go, it’s time to add your fillings. You want to check that the eggs look moist but don’t visibly jiggle when you shake the pan. A little goes a long way when you apply the filling — if you overload it, the trademark “fold” won’t go as smoothly as you would hope.
Fold the Omelet — Carefully
Folding the omelet is the part that can throw even the most seasoned chefs for a loop. The trademark fold of an omelet needs to be done carefully and with precision. Any misstep can lead to the delicate egg breaking apart, ruining the aesthetics of your dish. After carefully folding the omelet in half, let it brown a little bit on the underside.
Start Plating
Every worried mother and head chef out there will tell you the same thing — don’t take a hot pan off the stove until you know exactly where you’re going with it. Have your plate set up and have a spot to put your pan down that won’t cause heat damage. After you flip the omelet onto your plate, you can use whatever fillings you have left over as a garnish!
Stop By Mil-Lee’s Yardley Diner to See How It’s Done!
If you want to see how a Special Santa Fe or Greek Omelet gets made, Mil-Lee’s Yardley Diner has you covered! Our kitchen has perfected how to make the perfectly cooked omelet every time it leaves our kitchen, so you won’t have to worry about the cleanup! Stop by and check out our full breakfast menu in Yardley, PA, read through our helpful FAQ, and get some omelet inspiration from us today!
