Omelettes Take Manhattan!

Let's enjoy summer vacation by taking a nice little trip to France where Madame Romaine de Lyon will give us a class in The Art of Cooking Omelettes (1963). Since Madame Romaine actually ran a restaurant in Manhattan, though, perhaps it would be more accurate to say our field trip is to a culinary outpost of France in Manhattan....

This book has HUNDREDS of omelette suggestions, each with its own name.

They all start the same way, though: brown a tablespoon of butter over medium heat, cook fillings briefly, then pour the egg mix (3 eggs beaten with a tablespoon of water and salt and pepper to taste) on top. Then shake the pan and keep lifting the omelette edges to the uncooked eggs seep to the bottom, and fold and serve on a plate when it is is just done.

A lot of these actually sound delicious:

Eggs filled with asparagus, truffles, and cream sauce? Yes, please.

As the truffle suggests, this book does not shy away from expensive ingredients:

Why not stuff some eggs with foie gras and top them with Courvoisier?

But of course, the real draw for me was that Madame Romaine has a real soft spot for organ meats.

Have some extra chicken livers?

Make it Medici with peas, rice, onions, and croutons!

Need to use up some (veal) kidneys?

Make it Napoleon with ham, eggplant, croutons, garlic, and fines herbes. (I'd rather have a Napoleon Dynamite and fill it with tots instead of kidney.)

What if you have an abundance of sweetbreads?

Then the Champeret (with asparagus tips, mushrooms, cheese, and cream sauce) might be more your style. (Or just skip the sweetbreads altogether. This sounds pretty awesome without it!)

What if you've got calf's brains AND you want to get a Queen song stuck in your head?

No problem! Make a Scaramouche omelette with artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and sherry sauce!

I love this book-- delicious and a bit horrifying by turns, just like Hannibal....

Happy Cookbook Wednesday, and thanks to Modern Day Ozzie and Harriet for hosting!