This is another backlogged one from November 2015 like 14-12: Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce. You’ve probably already seen the results of 5-11: Country Omelette, but I maintain that I CAN make a good omelette–this was just not one of them.
Country omelettes are a thing, usually referred to country French omelettes. As is my problem a lot of times, I had pan difficulties which led to this one not turning out well. Maybe it’s time to do some pan shopping.
I don’t think we ever made this particular recipe before, but looking back over it now, I’m offended that they tell you to discard the bacon fat. Why would you ever throw that away when they ask you to add butter in the very next sentence? 🙁
I used some cooked chicken instead of bacon (that’s what I had). My potatoes aren’t boiled or cold, but we can fix some of that.
Peeled and diced the potatoes. I had lots of practice doing 20 lbs of potatoes every Sunday morning for brunch hash browns during my restaurant adventure.
If you want to pre-peel/dice potatoes and hold them for the next day (say, for Sunday brunch), suspend them in water like this–it’ll keep them from browning. If you need to quickly have boiled potatoes (for mashed potatoes, potato salad, or a country omelette), microwave them like this. A couple of rounds (depending on the strength of your microwave) will get them to whatever consistency you need–just test them with a fork every few minutes or so.
Since I didn’t have bacon fat to cook the onions and potatoes in (because as I said before, it’s ridiculous to throw perfectly good fat away and replace it with butter), I used a mix of butter and some chicken fat I kept in a jar in the fridge. If you make it with bacon, use your bacon fat (don’t throw it away) and just add a bit of butter (and canola oil–a mix will keep it from burning) if you need more.
Here’s where I ran into pan difficulties. My cast-iron was not seasoned well–I really haven’t been using it lately as much as I used to. As a result, it produced a lot of undesired sticking–not good when working with eggs.
I had hoped that the fat used during the potato/onion sautéeing portion would lubricate the pan enough to prevent sticking during the egg portion. Judging by my final results, I think that I might have been off a bit on that.
Eggs for mixing. Doing it in a measuring cup makes it easier to get them into the pan later. Bowls work too though–whatever floats your boat.
Action shot. Illustrates my point about measuring cups making it easier to pour into the pan, though.
This already looks like it’s going south. Too much sticking is creating scrambled eggs, not a solid omelette.
This is a disaster. A brown, somewhat-unappetizing-looking disaster. I think if I had done it in my regular non-stick egg pan, it might have gone better.
As a scramble, it wasn’t bad. As an omelette–not so much.
Grade: B-
