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An omelette is a preparation of beaten egg cooked with butter or oil in a frying pan, usually folded around a filling such as cheese, vegetables, meat (often ham), or some combination of the above. To obtain a fluffy texture, whole eggs or egg whites are usually beaten with a small amount of milk or cream. Traditionally, omelettes are partially cooked on the top side and not flipped prior to folding.

According to legend, 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.¹

On March 19, 1994, the largest omelette (128.5 m³; 1,383 ft²) in the world at the time was made with 160,000 eggs in Yokohama, Japan,² 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.³

Illustrative of the definitional boundary question as to fillings is the exchange between a waitress, played by Wendy Thorlakson, and John Cusack's character, Marty, in Grosse Pointe Blank, wherein the waitress maintains that Marty’s order of an ‘egg-white omelette’ with ‘Nothing in the omelette, nothing at all’ is, by the waitress’ definition, ‘not technically an omelette’. Though the scene fails to fully resolve this issue, Cusack’s character helpfully notes its potential intractability, while finessing the matter by observing ‘Look, I don't want to get into a semantic argument, I just want the protein, all right?’ ⁴

Contents 1 Variations 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

Variations

• Bi pong moun is an omelettario de muerta from Cambodia.^{citation needed}

• A Chinese omelette can be egg foo yung [1] or an oyster omelette.^{citation needed}

• Debilovka - [Дебиловка] traditional omelette, initially issued by Jewish-Russian immigrants in Israel. Colorful combination of wide variety of canned and frozen vegetables, cold cuts and regional spices.^{citation needed}

• A Denver omelette, also known as a Western omelette, is an omelette filled with diced ham, onions, and green bell peppers, though there are many variations on fillings. Often served in the midwestern United States and sometimes has a topping of cheese and a sidedish of hashbrowns or fried potatoes.^{citation needed}

• An egg white omelette is a variation which does not include the yolks to remove fat and cholesterol, which reside exclusively in the yolk-portion of an egg.^{citation needed}

• The French Omelette is smoothly and briskly cooked in a very, very hot pan specially made for the purpose. The technique relies on clarified butter (to ensure a high smoke point) in relatively great ratio to the eggs (prevents sticking and cooks the eggs more quickly). Good with just salt and pepper, this omelette is often flavored with tomatoes and finely chopped herbs (often fines herbes⁵ or tarragon, chervil, rosemary and thyme) or chopped onions. French Omelettes are also removed from the pan in a manner different from an American omelette. They are rolled out in a trifold design and when made correctly have little to no color on them.^{citation needed}

• Frittata is a kind of open-faced Italian omelette that can contain cheese, vegetables, or even leftover pasta. Frittate are cooked slowly. Except for the cooking oil, all ingredients are fully mixed with the eggs before cooking starts.^{citation needed}

• An Indian Omelette is usually made with the addition of spices which vary by region. Most commonly used are finely chopped green chilies, chopped onions, coriander leaf or powder and a pinch of turmeric all of which are added to the egg before it is whisked. An exception to this is the tomato omelette which doesn't contain egg, but is called an omelette simply because of its resemblance to an omelette.^{citation needed}

• In Japan, omelette (pronounced omuretsu) can mean a western omelette. Omurice (from the English words "omelette" and "rice") is an oblong ball shaped omelette filled with rice and usually served with a large amount of tomato ketchup. Omu-soba is an omelette with yakisoba as its filling. This is also known in Tokyo as the "Gunshot Omelette." Okonomiyaki contains flour and is cooked on a hotplate Teppanyaki style, is often compared to an omelette.^{citation needed}

• In Mexico, omelette (pronounced omletta) can have many of the same ingredients as a western omelette.^{citation needed}

• In the Netherlands, a "Boerenomelet" (Literally: Farmers-omelet) is most favored. It usually consists of: Eggs (2 to 3), a mixture of onions (baked), mushrooms, paprika, leek, seed-pod peas (or in Dutch: doperwten), salt and pepper (for seasoning). Some folk prefer their own variation on this recipe.

• Spanish tortilla española is a characteristic thick omelette stuffed with fried potatoes and fine cut onion, and fried using olive oil. See also tortilla. In Britain, this is called a Spanish omelette, and may include cheese or cooked diced ham.^{citation needed}

• A Thai omelette can be a kai yat sai which means literally "eggs, stuffed inside".^{citation needed}

• In the United States, a Spanish omelette is an omelette served with an often spicy sauce of tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers.^{citation needed}

See also

• List of egg dishes

References

External links

• Earthworm Envy Omelet Reviews
• collection of Omelet Recipes
• Comprehensive French Omelette Recipes and Instructions - Julia Child
• Omelet/omelette recipe with pre-stirred eggs (with photos)
• Omelet/omelette recipe with eggs stirred in the omelette pan
• Breakfast Omelet Recipe
• Frittata recipe (with photo)
• Tortilla de patatas recipe (with photo)
• Frittata Recipes
• Giant Omelette Celebration
• Cooked and Sauced Spanish Omelet Recipes

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• This page was last modified on 16 November 2008, at 12:16.

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