Saffron Trail's Nandita created an event which is one of the highlights of each month for me: The Weekend Breakfast Blogging (WBB) event. This month it is being hosted by Kanchana from Married to a Desi, and the theme for the sixteenth WBB is Omelettes.

I've had my share of omelettes in restaurants: some good, some so-so, some horrible. A well-made omelette is a thing to treasure, and it evokes a fervor among its devotees. A bad one is not worthy of the name.

Now, in many houses like ours people have started eating eggs while remaining veg; some will eat the egg when recognizably an egg (boiled, fried, omelette, quiche), while others will only eat it when unrecognizably inside something (pasta, cake etc). My husband is the latter - he cannot stand the smell or taste of egg, and so won't even eat the fried rice in Chinese restaurants in the US because of the scrambled egg they add.

For the rest of us, egg has proved to be an additional source of protein and something which widens our options on the menu when we eat out. When cooking an egg dish at home, we take care to prepare something separately for my husband.

I learned how to make the best omelettes in the world from my mother.

Now that might sound immodest, so be sure that I am not claiming the ones that I make are the best, just that I know what the technique is that is employed in making the best omelettes in the world :-)

• Establish how hungry each person is, and based on that take either two or three eggs per person (so either four or six eggs for two people).


• Take out two bowls. Take a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice, and swirl it around the larger bowl, then rinse thoroughly with water and dry with a paper towel; this gets rid of any residual oil that might be in the bowl.


• Separate the eggs, putting the whites in the bowl you prepared above, and the yolks in the other bowl.


• Whisk the egg whites first, having made sure that your whisk(s) are also free of any residual oil. It is ready when the whites form soft peaks that bend back on themselves.


• Now whisk the yolks until well-combined; you can do this with a fork.


• Get your frying pan ready: heat it with a teaspoon of oil or butter.


• Then fold in the yolks into the whites, combining well but not overworking it.


• Important: Do NOT add salt to this mixture. Salt in the egg will cause it to draw water while cooking, and you will end up with tough stringy egg-protein and grey water - not appealing at all.


• Ladle enough mixture onto the pan to cover the bottom, and after twenty seconds or so start to lightly jiggle/shake the pan. The omelette will start to come loose and slip around a little.


• From here on there are two options to complete the omelette:
  
  • The traditional way is to next score a line through the center of the omelette with your spatula, then flip over one half onto the other along the line (perhaps sprinkling some grated sharp cheddar first) and then sliding it onto a plate to be served.
    The result is what you see in the picture on the right - a fluffy soufflé of an omelette.
  
  
  • Personally, I like my eggs more well done (and Angel Face should not eat it runny until she is twelve at least), so for ours I slip the whole omelette flat onto a plate, then turn the pan upside down over the plate.
    With the plate pressed to the pan, I flip the whole thing over so that the omelette has been turned over, unbroken.
    Cook for a little bit on the other side until the egg is set through.
    Now sprinkle cheese and fold over, sliding onto a plate to serve.
    The main picture at the top of this entry shows the appearance when made in this manner.
  
  

I have to issue a warning though: after you have made omelettes this way, your palate might be spoilt for any other type, so proceed at your own risk.