Omelets

Were one to launch a “Demystification of French Cuisine” campaign, the rolled omelet should certainly mark the point of departure. There are no secrets, no special talent is required, and no method is any better than any other. Its execution demands less than a minute’s time from the breaking of the eggs to the presentation at table. (I was asked recently to demonstrate an omelet to a group of American high-school girls, come to France to study the language. After the demonstration, I gave them several trays of eggs and told them to go to work. Their teacher later told me that the omelet session had been the high point of their summer, simply because each girl, in a relaxed atmosphere and with no previous experience, had produced an absolutely correct omelet.) And, in any case, it is only as good as the butter and the eggs with which it is made; it shares neither creamy suavity with scrambled eggs nor homely wit with many a flat omelet.