Real chefs judge each other not by how well they can cook an
elaborate dinner, but how well they can cook an omelet. This, the most simple
of dishes, requires every real skill a good cook needs: confidence; the ability
to cook an egg; a light hand with
seasoning; working with the right tools and heat; strong arm muscles to heft
the pan while cooking, and to tip the omelet out at the end. If you’ve ever
ballsed up something so simple, you’ll know how difficult it actually is.
Here’s the delicate flower of American cooking, Julia Child,
showing us, in her inimitable way, how it’s done.
You can tell that the omelet is important because in her
classic, Mastering The Art of French
Cooking, she devotes many pages to breaking down each step, complete with illustrations.
Note how the lady in this picture holds the pan. Now, go to your kitchen, and
grab a pan just like it. That is, big and heavy. Hold it with one arm just like
that.
Now, grab a plate.
Now, pretend you have a fragile omelet in there you have to
quickly turn out, without breaking the omelet, the plate, the pan, or your arm.
Mastering The Art of
French Cooking, Julia Child, Knopf, 1961
Also from this book: A Spot of (Batter) Bother
Also from this book: A Spot of (Batter) Bother