The Best Omelet You’ll Ever Make (Restaurant-Quality)

Epicurious

In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef and culinary instructor Frank Proto demonstrates how to make the best French omelet at home. From a perfectly whisked yolk to cooking it before it colors, follow Frank’s guide to get creamy, fluffy French omelets at home.

Transcript

00:00French omelets are hard to master, but not for you.

00:03I'm Frank, a professional chef and color instructor, and today I'm going to show you how to make

00:07a true French omelet.

00:09No more lumpy consistency, botched flips onto the plate, or dry interiors.

00:14This is French Omelet 101.

00:17French omelet is one of those things that, if someone makes it for you, it's a truly

00:20special thing.

00:21Unlike an American-style omelet, which is firm, brown, and filled, a French omelet is

00:25a smooth, unbrowned roll, finished with herbs and butter.

00:28It's one of the simplest dishes on paper, but the most telling in practice.

00:32But guess what?

00:33I believe in you.

00:37The French omelet is about the texture of the omelet, which is soft and pale.

00:42Getting the right color and texture for your omelet starts right here, and we mix the eggs

00:46together.

00:47We want to blend them really well so that the whites and the yolks are completely combined.

00:50It takes a few extra minutes, but that's the way you're going to get it right.

00:55First thing I want to do is crack my eggs.

00:56I have a bowl for my shells.

00:57Whenever I crack eggs, I try and crack them on a flat surface, not on the edge.

01:01If you crack them on the edge, you get little fragments of shell in there.

01:04Crack it on a flat surface, two thumbs in, open that up, right?

01:10If you happen to get shell in there, believe it or not, shell attracts shell.

01:14Shell is the easiest thing to get shell out.

01:16Oh, see?

01:17I got a big piece of shell in there, right?

01:19Get that shell out with your shell.

01:21I'm going to use a fork, not a whisk.

01:25Whisks add a lot of air into things, and I don't want this to have a lot of air.

01:28I want it to be a fairly dense omelet, so I'm just going to break my yolks, and I'm just

01:33going to whisk.

01:34Give it a good two or three minutes with no visible yolk or visible white.

01:38If you see streaks, things cook at different temperatures.

01:40You might not get an evenly cooked omelet.

01:43The chef is going to yell at you.

01:44I think I have no more striations in there.

01:47I mixed it up really well, and we're good to go.

01:50I think I can cook this omelet.

01:54Everything's here, and it's going to move really quickly.

01:57Let's talk about a few things before we start.

01:59It's really important that you have everything you need close by.

02:02I have salt, butter, eggs, and my plate, because this omelet comes together super quick.

02:06I'm doing a really traditional French omelet, super simple, no fillings.

02:10You can fill them, but the omelet is kind of a celebration of the egg itself.

02:15I'm using a 10-inch non-stick pan.

02:17We're going to add our butter to the pan, and once we start hearing the butter speak

02:20to us like a little crackling, that's when we're going to add our eggs.

02:23Are you ready for the magic?

02:26Heat my pan, medium-high heat.

02:27I'm going to put two nice dabs of butter in there, because I want this to have a nice

02:31buttery flavor.

02:33Just let my butter melt.

02:34That doesn't mean I want color on my butter.

02:36I want any color on my butter.

02:37We're just going to wait for our butter to start snap, crackle, and pop a little bit.

02:41I like that sound.

02:42I'm going to add my eggs into the pan, a nice pinch of salt while they are liquid.

02:48I want my eggs to be slightly liquidy and creamy when I take it off the heat.

02:53The key here is movement.

02:54We want to move the eggs around.

02:57Get in there and really mix it up.

03:00Mix, mix, mix, mix until our eggs start to form a really nice base.

03:09Right?

03:10We're just going to flip it over.

03:12Getting your omelet down to the crook of the pan, and that's going to give you a little

03:15bit of a football shape.

03:16Give it a tap.

03:18Try and get it to come out to the edge.

03:20So tilt and pour out onto your plate.

03:26And shape our omelet.

03:28So right there is where I really want my shape of my omelet.

03:36That is a nice French omelet.

03:37What I like to do here is just take a little pat of butter, brush it on top.

03:45Put a little bit of chives on top, just to add a little oniony garnish.

03:50And that's how it's done.

03:51Like I said, it comes together real quick.

03:54Timing, control, and a little bit of finesse makes a nice French omelet.

03:58When you look at the omelet, it's nice and shiny.

04:01I rub a little butter on top.

04:02The eggs are super pale.

04:04It's got that nice kind of football-like shape.

04:07Making a French omelet is super fast.

04:09But look at the end result.

04:10You have a beautiful, creamy, bright yellow omelet that is almost like kind of art gallery

04:17type.

04:18All right.

04:19So it's time to taste.

04:20Let's cut into it and see how we did.

04:21You generally learn this in culinary school and some chefs will actually test their cooks

04:26on a French omelet because it is deceptively simple.

04:29You can see the interior is moist and custardy.

04:31I'm going to give it a taste.

04:37It's buttery.

04:38It's light.

04:39It's creamy.

04:40A good French omelet is all about texture.

04:42The texture here is on the money.

04:44Soft and silky.

04:45It's not firm.

04:46It's not overcooked.

04:48My eggs are creamy.

04:49And that's how I know that this is a delicious French omelet.

04:53French omelets are all about temperature, timing, and technique.

04:57Keep practicing.

04:58Don't stress about perfection.

05:00Every time you make an omelet, you will learn something new.

05:02And then you can make an omelet.

05:04All right.

05:06Well, I'm going to try to take a look at the top of the positive parts, right?

05:09All right.

05:09This time you are going.

05:09We're going to try to get a look at a ensemble.

05:11And we're going to try to take a look at a healthy style of

05:20the texture.

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