In cuisine, an omelette (or omelet) is a dish made from beaten eggs quickly cooked with butter or oil in a frying pan, sometimes folded around a filling such as cheese, vegetables, meat, or some combination of the above. To obtain a fluffy texture, whole eggs or sometimes only egg whites are beaten with a small amount of milk, cream or water – the idea being to have “bubbles” of water vapor trapped within the rapidly cooked egg. Some home cooks add baking powder to produce a fluffier omelette; however, this ingredient is viewed unfavorably by traditionalists.
The omelette is a refined version of an ancient food. The French word omelette came into use during the mid-16th century, but the versions alumelle and alumete are employed by the Ménagier de Paris (II, 5) in 1393. Rabelais (Pantagruel, IV, 9) mentions an homelaicte d’oeufs, Olivier de Serres an amelette, François Pierre La Varenne’s Le cuisinier françois (1651) has aumelette, and the modern omelette appears in Cuisine bourgoise (1784).
According to the founding legend of the annual giant Easter omelette of Bessières, Haute-Garonne, when Napoleon Bonaparte and his army were traveling through southern France, they decided to rest for the night near the town of Bessières. 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 (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!
BBQ Chicken and Cheddar Omelette
Ingredients:
- 1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
- 1 Teaspoon BBQ Sauce
- ¼ Cup Rotisserie Chicken meat, shredded
- 3 Eggs
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- ¼ Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated
- 1 Tablespoon Green Onions, sliced
Melt the butter into a non-stick skillet over medium high heat.
Add BBQ sauce to the chicken and mix well.
Whisk the eggs with salt and pepper until combined and frothy; add to pan. Allow the eggs to cook for 1 minute.
Using a wooden spatula, carefully lift the cooked portions of the egg from the pan, allowing the runny portions to reach the heat–do not scramble. Continue in this manner until no runny portion remains. Generously arrange chicken, cheese, and green onions onto one side of the egg mixture. Using a spatula, fold over the other side. Continue to cook until cheese is melted.
Serve immediately.
Savor! West Virginia 