The fire should be quite hot. All cookery-books especially expatiate on
the necessity of a pan to be used for omelets alone. Any clean, smooth
iron spider, or _sauté_ pan, is a good enough omelet-pan. Put the pan on
the fire to become heated; break the eggs into a kitchen basin; sprinkle
over them pepper and salt, and give them twelve vigorous beats with a
spoon. This is enough to break all the yolks, and twelve beats was Mr.
Riddle’s rule. Now put butter the size of an egg (for five eggs) in the
heated pan; turn it around so that it will moisten all the bottom of the
pan. When it is well melted, and _begins to boil_, pour in the eggs.
Holding the handle of the omelet-pan in the left hand, carefully and
lightly with a spoon draw up the whitened egg from the bottom, so that
all the eggs may be equally cooked, or whitened to a soft, creamy
substance. Now, still with the left hand, shake the pan forward and
backward, which will disengage the eggs from the bottom; then shaking
again the omelet a little one side, turn with a spoon half of one side
over the other; and allowing it to remain a moment to harden a little at
the bottom, gently shaking it all the time, toss it over on to a warm
platter held in the right hand. A little practice makes one quite
dexterous in placing the omelet in the centre of the platter, and
turning it over as it is tossed from the omelet-pan.
However, if one is unsuccessful in the tossing operation, which is the
correct thing, according to the cooking professor, the omelet can be
lifted to the platter with a pancake-turner. It should be creamy and
light in the centre, and more firm on the outside.
I will specify several different omelets. A variety of others may be
made in the same way, by adding boiled tongue cut into dice, sliced
truffles, cooked and sliced kidneys with the gravy poured around, etc.,
etc.