omelet n : beaten eggs or an egg mixture cooked until just set; may be folded around e.g. ham or cheese or jelly [syn: omelette]

English

Noun

1. Alternative spelling of omelette

An omelette (alternately "omelet") is a preparation of beaten egg cooked with butter or oil in a frying pan, usually folded around a filling such as cheese, vegetables, meat (often ham), or some combination of the above. Gourmet cook Julia Child once described an omelette as soft-cooked scrambled eggs wrapped in an envelope of firmly-cooked scrambled eggs. Traditionally, omelettes are partially cooked on the top side and not flipped prior to folding. According to Alton Brown, of Food Network's "Good Eats," the chances of becoming ill from traditional omelettes are small.

Variations

• Spanish tortilla española is a characteristic thick omelette stuffed with fried potatoes and fine cut onion, and fried using olive oil. See also tortilla. In Britain this is called a Spanish omelette, and may include cheese or cooked diced ham.

• The French Omelette is smoothly and briskly cooked in a very, very hot pan specially made for the purpose. The technique relies on clarified butter (to ensure a high smoke point) in relatively great ratio to the eggs (prevents sticking and cooks the eggs more quickly). Good with just salt and pepper, this omelette is often flavored with tomatoes and mint, finely chopped herbs (often tarragon, chervil, rosemary and thyme) or chopped onions. French Omelettes are also removed from the pan differently than an american omelette. They are rolled out in a trifold design and when made correctly have little to no color on them.

• A Denver omelette, also known as a Western omelette, is an omelette filled with diced ham, onions, and green bell peppers, though there are many variations on fillings. Often served in the midwestern United States and sometimes has a topping of cheese and a sidedish of hashbrowns or fried potatoes.

• An egg white omelette is a variation which does not include the yolks to remove fat and cholesterol, which reside exclusively in the yolk-portion of an egg.

• In the United States, a Spanish omelette is an omelette served with an often spicy sauce of tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers.

• Frittata is a kind of open-faced Italian omelette that can contain cheese, vegetables, or even leftover pasta. Frittate are cooked slowly. Except for the cooking fat, all ingredients are fully mixed with the eggs before cooking starts.

• In Japan, omelette (pronounced omuretsu) can mean a western omelette but also omurice (from the English words "omelette" and "rice"). Omu-soba is an omelette with yakisoba as its filling. This is also known in Tokyo as the "Gunshot Omelette." Okonomiyaki is a Japanese pancake which is often compared to an omelette.

• A Chinese omelette can be egg foo yung http://chinesefood.about.com/cs/eggfooyung1/a/eggfooyung.htm or an oyster omelette.

• A Thai omelette can be a kai yat sai.

• Bi pong moun is a variety of omelette from Cambodia.

• An Indian Omelette is usually made with the addition of spices which vary by region. Most commonly used are finely chopped green chilies, chopped onions, coriander leaf or powder and a pinch of turmeric all of which are added to the egg before it is whisked. An exception to this is the tomato omelette which doesn't contain egg, but is called an omelette simply because of its resemblance to an omelette.

• Debilovka - [Дебиловка] traditional omelette, initially issued by Jewish-Russian emigrants in Israel. Colorful combination of wide variety of canned and frozen vegetables, cold cuts and regional spices.

Historical Trivia

According to legend, when Napoleon Bonaparte and his army were traveling through southern France, they decided to rest for the night near the town of Bessieres. Napoleon feasted on an omelette prepared by a local innkeeper that was such a culinary delight that he ordered the townspeople to gather all the eggs in the village and to prepare a huge omelette for his army the next day.

On March 19, 1994, the largest omelette (128.5 m³; 1,383 ft²) in the world at the time was made with 160,000 eggs in Yokohama, Japan, but it was subsequently overtaken by an omelette made by the Lung Association in Brockville Memorial Centre, Ontario, Canada on May 11, 2002 — it weighed 2.95 tons.

See also

• List of egg dishes

References

External links

• Comprehensive French Omelette Recipes and Instructions - Julia Child
• Omelet/omelette recipe with pre-stirred eggs (with photos)
• Omelet/omelette recipe with eggs stirred in the omelette pan
• Breakfast Omelet Recipe
• Frittata recipe (with photo)
• Tortilla de patatas recipe (with photo)
• Frittata Recipes
• Giant Omelette Celebration
• Earthworm Envy Omelet Reviews
• Cooked and Sauced Spanish Omelet Recipes