Fluffy Omelets

There is a famous restaurant on Mont Saint-Michel, a small island off the coast of Brittany, where they sell an equally famous fluffy omelet at an exorbitant price to tourists. The omelet is delicious, if not quite worth the price, and since the restaurant provides a window for gawkers to watch and analyze, it is easy to see how it is made. Anyone who says it is made by separating the eggs, the traditional approach to a soufflé omelet, has never stood at the window and watched. The secret to the omelet is extended beating of the eggs, which must be at room temperature or better warm, and a frightening amount of butter. At the restaurant, a copper pan with a handle the length of a spear is held in a wood fire for the final cooking, but this is more picturesque than any real culinary secret.