Free The Egg and I: How to Make Incredible Omelets and Frittatas by Dennis Weaver

The American-Style Folded Omelet

    This is the standard in American omelets.  Learn this technique and you can make omelets just like the diner.  They are not difficult if you follow these guidelines:
Stick with three egg omelets—larger omelets can be harder to fold
Don’t use too many ingredients in the filling
Use the right sized pan
Use only a nonstick or well-seasoned pan
    You can use almost any fillings that you like—just don’t overload the eggs with too much filling.  About a half-cup for a three egg omelet is about right.
    For a three-egg omelet, you will need an eight-inch pan with a good nonstick surface or another pan that is well seasoned. 
Cook any filling ingredients that need to be cooked like bacon, onions, and mushrooms.  Set them aside and cover them to keep them warm.
While the ingredients are cooking, for each omelet, whisk together 3 large eggs with pepper and salt.  Set aside.
In an eight-inch pan, heat a generous tablespoon of butter on medium to medium high heat until the butter is melted and pan is hot.  Swish the butter around to coat the surfaces.
Immediately pour the eggs into the hot pan.  As the eggs cook, use a soft-bladed spatula like a silicone as spatula to lift the edges of the omelet and let the uncooked eggs run underneath.  Continue doing this until all the runny eggs are gone. 
When the eggs are set but still a bit shiny, scoop about a half cup of the filling onto the left hand side of the omelet (if you are right handed). 
It’s time to fold the omelet.  The traditional way is to fold the uncovered half of the omelet over the filled side to form a half-moon with the top portion not quite reaching to the edge of the bottom portion.  An easier way is to use the soft spatula to make sure the omelet is free in the pan and able to slide in the pan.  Then lift the pan over the plate to a 45 degree angle and shake the pan to get the omelet to slide out of the pan and onto the plate.  As the omelet slides out of the pan, twist the pan to fold the trailing (uncovered) half over the loaded half---folding the omelet on the plate.  (This is really easy to do—just hard to describe.)
    You can make a simple cheese omelet or a mixture of almost anything you want.  You can also put sauce or gravy over the top of the omelet. 

Country Sausage, Potatoes, and Gravy Omelet
    This is an example of an American Folded Omelet.   The filling is cheddar, fried potatoes, and sausage.  A sausage and white gravy is poured over the omelet.  It is served with buttermilk biscuits. 
3 large eggs for each omelet you are going to make
Pepper and salt
About 1/3 cup diced small raw potatoes for each omelet
Diced onions
Seasoning blend such as Shepherds Herb from Teeny Tiny
Country sausage
Monarch Gravy Mix or equal (You will make about ½ cup gravy for each omelet.)
     
    To make the filling:
     
Cook and crumble the sausage.  Let it drain on paper towels.  Drain nearly all of the grease from the pan.
Sauté the diced potatoes.  After a couple minutes, add the diced onions.  Cook until the potatoes are nearly soft and the onion is clear.  Remove from heat.
Reserve a little meat for the gravy and stir the rest of the meat back into the potato mixture along with the seasoning.
     
    Make the biscuits according to package directions.  We recommend our just-add-water buttermilk biscuit mix for great biscuits without a lot of work.
     
    See our just-add-water biscuit mix.>>
     
    Make the gravy according to package directions or make gravy from scratch.  You will need about 1/2 cup gravy for each omelet.
     
    See our just-add-water gravy mix>>
     
    To make the omelet:
     
In an eight-inch pan, heat a tablespoon of butter (or use a little of the sausage fat) on medium to medium high heat until the butter is melted and pan is hot.  Swish the butter around to coat the surfaces.
Immediately pour the eggs into the hot pan.  As the eggs cook, use a soft-bladed spatula like a silicone as spatula to