Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but who’s making it? It’s always nice to have something warm for breakfast, because you’re supposed to get enough energy as to survive the fist half of the day, which is usually full of tasks and assignments others want us to do. If you work, you do your job. If you stay home, you do household errands, wash the kids, feed the kids, play with the kids, feed the cat, feed the dog and so on. How much energy do you need to survive the morning? The answer is in the breakfast and one of the most complete meals is the omelet. The origins of this dish take us back in the Roman Empire times, according to some historians who found it mentioned in some documents. Other names for omelet are omelette, omlete and a few more variations depending on particular languages. Many believe that an omelet is the same thing with a frittata or with scrambled eggs, but there are differences between these three dishes, although all of them are obtained by mixing eggs and optionally adding more ingredients to the mix. While an omelet is made by folding it around a filling, if all ingredients in the filling are incorporated in the eggs mixture before putting it on fire, the resulting dish is called a frittata. If eggs are mixed directly in the pan, on fire, and not beaten in the preparation stage, the result is known as scrambled eggs.

More omelet variations are:

• the egg white low-fat omelet, which is made only with egg whites, thus becoming a low-fat, low-cholesterol dish
• the Spanish omelet, which includes chopped onions, potatoes and bell peppers in the filling
• the traditional Turkish omelet, cooked very slowly, called Menemen and made with plenty of diced tomatoes and onions mixed with the eggs from the very beginning
• the French omelette, cooked and served in a special manner, different from the American one, and seasoned with fine herbs and optionally with tomatoes

How to Make an Omelet

Omelets are made with eggs. They can be simple, when only eggs are used, or mixed with various other ingredients such as ham, spinach, cheese, mushrooms, peppers, onions or tomatoes. For making a basic omelet you have to combine the eggs with salt and beat them with a fork, then heat up a teaspoon of oil in a frying pan and pour the eggs mixture into the pan. The mixed eggs will start to spread all over the bottom of the pan. You can help them by gently moving the pan until the bottom is all covered. With a spatula, start lifting the edges of the omelet, in order to allow the uncooked egg mixture to flow towards the bottom of the pan. If you want, and if your spatula is large enough, you can flip the omelet so the uncooked side on top lands on the bottom of the pan. At this point, you can simply fold the omelet in half and put it on a plate, or you can add some fillings of your choice, then fold it and keep it one more minute on the fire.

Some omelet recipes may include milk or water added to the eggs, but that’s optional and a matter of personal taste. Omelets are nicer if you prepare them as single-serving dishes. As they only take 2-3 minutes each to prepare, this is not an issue if you don’t have a huge family to cook breakfast for. As of the number of eggs needed to make an omelet, an average person would be satisfied with two eggs, but a hungry football player may need four or even more eggs at a meal.

Omelets can be prepared in any frying pan, provided that it has curved edges, so you can easier slide the omelet from the pan to the plate when done. However, kitchenware manufacturers didn't waste their time, so they created foldable egg omelet pans with removable egg poacher. There are even microwave omelet makers and electric omelet makers which feature some molds made on non-stick materials, in which you have to pour the omelet mixture. Such electric cookware can offer more convenience in the kitchen, yet the classic cooking style using pans and pots can be fun too.

Omelet Preparation Tips

These tips apply not only to omelets, but to all dishes in which egg is one of the ingredients.

• When breaking the eggs, it’s always better to do it in a separate bowl, because if it happens to find a bad egg, you won’t have to throw all of them away. If you want, you can make a test to see if eggs are fresh before breaking the shell: fill a deep pan with water and put the egg inside. If it stays on the bottom, on a side, the egg is fresh. If it floats, it’s not good so you shouldn’t be using it.
• If eggs are dirty, rinse them well, otherwise residues may fall into your omelet and who knows what germs or viruses they may carry with them. Anyway, you should wash the eggs before putting them in the fridge, but if you often skip this step, at least make sure that dirt won’t land into your food.
• When buying eggs, you need to pay attention to the stamp they have on them, if you want to enjoy healthy eating and a high-quality nutrition. Stamp codes are standardized, so if you read the code you’ll be able to know if the eggs come from free range, cereal fed hens or from battery-caged birds which never see the sunlight. Labeling codes standards vary with the region, so EU codes will have different meaning than US codes. This is why you have to check your local standardization rules, in order to be able to read the labels.

It is strongly recommended that omelets are well-cooked. Eating raw eggs poses a risk of food poisoning, because they may carry Salmonella, which is only destroyed by cooking them. Although there are people who eat them raw, claiming that's very good for their vocal chords, if you want to stay on the safe side, cook your eggs completely, no matter if you make am omelet or you boil or poach them.

Omelet Recipes

The main purpose of Omelet.me is to provide you with a new omelet recipe for each day of the year, so your family never gets bored with the breakfasts you cook for them. Don’t forget to bookmark us or to subscribe to our feed, so you can get the new omelet recipes directly in your inbox.