Eggs with butter or oil are the basic ingredients for an omelet, but what happens if you get 12 different chefs to make their version of the same classic dish? From the school cafeteria to Michelin Star restaurants, see how these chefs put their own spin on an omelet.
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00:00♪♪
00:12A month ago, I believe we sold 20,000 omelets
00:17just for one month.
00:18The way to put this together and to make food in two minutes,
00:21you're going to have everything ready to go.
00:22So we're going to prepare for the plate.
00:24You're going to need potatoes, hard-cooked.
00:28These vegetables are already done.
00:29At the diner, we pre-cook the bacon.
00:31This is the only way you're going to be successful
00:33because bacon normally takes, in the platter,
00:36seven to eight minutes,
00:37which we don't have seven to eight minutes.
00:38We have two minutes or less.
00:40The key for a good omelet, you get the eggs,
00:42you get some water and Tabasco, and you whisk it.
00:44At Brooklyn Diner, we normally pre-whisk the eggs,
00:47so this is the only way you can survive
00:49because when you get 25, 30 orders at once,
00:52it's impossible to break an egg salad menu.
00:53All right? Follow me. Here you go.
00:55So we're going to do oil, all right? Olive oil.
00:58Same bacon that we use it, we just chop it up.
01:00Now the bacon is getting hot.
01:01We're going to put fresh herbs, parsley and tarragon.
01:04All right? Now tarragon is a bitter herb.
01:06You might say, oh, it's too strong.
01:08But once you mix it together, it really makes sense.
01:10Salt. Normally I put salt in my eggs,
01:12but I put salt in the eggs, not here.
01:14So you go here, salt, that's it.
01:17We're ready to go.
01:17The omelet can be cooked in a second.
01:20Like, this is weird.
01:21When you're cooking it, it doesn't happen.
01:23It doesn't cook.
01:24When you just move to your left to do something,
01:26next thing you know, the omelet's completely cooked.
01:28And instead to be an omelet, it's in a scramble.
01:30Like, oh my God, let's do it again.
01:32Yeah. You need to keep the eye on it.
01:33That's important.
01:34All right.
01:35We're getting there.
01:36You see it? It's like a gelatin.
01:37That's what you're looking for.
01:38And it's going to get to the point
01:39that you can't move anymore.
01:40You just kind of let it sit, so you can make the omelet.
01:42Cheddar cheese we normally use.
01:44Now, the more cheese, the better, right?
01:45All right? So once this is ready, you can see it.
01:47You see how it moves in here?
01:48All right. So now we're going to make an omelet.
01:51All right? Look at that.
01:52Look at that beauty.
01:56A French omelet is moist.
01:58It should be non-dry, non-color,
02:01and using only fresh ingredients.
02:04And that's how we like it in France.
02:06If you go to Paris,
02:07every bistro has a fine herbs omelet on their menu.
02:11And that's what I'm going to make today.
02:12So I'm going to use parsley, chervil, and chives.
02:15It's not like bay leaves, where it's a big...
02:17No, these, those are fine.
02:19They are very, very subtle.
02:20When you taste.
02:21Les herbes fines, les fines herbes, we call it.
02:23Très sensible et goûteuse.
02:25Very sensible and tasty.
02:27Delicate and fresh herbs.
02:28The chives is a little bit bitter and peppery,
02:32but it goes well with the omelet.
02:34Chervil is the same family as the parsley,
02:36but it's more fragile.
02:37It gets bad very quickly.
02:39So that's why it's difficult to find.
02:40But if you go to France,
02:41everybody in his garden has chervil.
02:43Chervil, chives, and parsley.
02:45Now I'm going to chop curly parsley.
02:47When you cook it, it stay green.
02:50The flat has a tendency of losing its color.
02:53So for presentation, it's not very ideal to use the flat.
02:58So now I'm going to put some salt, pepper.
03:02The whisk is too brutal for the eggs.
03:04The French, you know, we love taking care of our eggs.
03:08With the fork, it's much better.
03:10It's going to be so much more fluffy and moist,
03:13and you're going to have those white mix with the yolks.
03:16Mix it again one more time, and then we're ready to cook.
03:20The French omelet must be cooked gently
03:23with no heat.
03:24Most of the people, they make their pan very hot.
03:27The omelet gets dry.
03:28In French cooking, we use clarified butter
03:30for most everything, because it doesn't burn.
03:32It's a nonstick, so we don't need too much.
03:36And then I'm going to add the eggs.
03:38But first, it's going to cook a little bit.
03:40Then I'm going to mix it just like this.
03:41You see, it's already cooking.
03:43I'm going to fold it, like I call it a football, you know?
03:46It's got to be oval, you see?
03:48When you see that it's still liquid inside,
03:50you just wait a little bit.
03:51And then it depends how you like it.
03:53You can cook it well done.
03:54I love it medium rare, but only one choice.
03:58What I like to do after is to brush it
04:00with a little bit of clarified butter
04:03to make it shiny and pretty.
04:05There you go, bon appetit.
04:08It's especially important to have your mise en place set
04:10for an omelet, because an omelet cooks very quickly.
04:13And if you spend an extra second looking for something,
04:15your dish is going to be ruined.
04:16You're going to have to make it again.
04:17I cracked the egg on a flat surface
04:19because I know none of the shell
04:20is going to fall into the bowl.
04:22And it just creates a nice little pocket
04:24on the side of the egg.
04:26So salt and pepper are just going to add a little flavor.
04:28The salt is going to hold on to moisture,
04:29and it's also going to gently make
04:31the proteins more tender too.
04:33So you're going to whisk your eggs
04:34until it looks homogenous.
04:36So it might take a minute or so.
04:38I can tell who's new in culinary school
04:39because they'll get tired whisking very quickly.
04:42So it's always okay to change arms.
04:43So we're going to heat our pan to medium high.
04:46Usually with eggs, it's a lower temperature,
04:48but we're going to move very quickly
04:49so we can work with a higher heat.
04:50So I'm going to add a little clarified butter.
04:52It's delicious, and it's also going to be able
04:54to go a higher heat than butter.
04:55Wait 10 seconds for it to get hot
04:57and go ahead and add our eggs.
04:58You can see it start to cook on the outside
05:00almost immediately.
05:01You're going to work very quickly.
05:02Push the outsides towards the inside,
05:04and you'll see it starts to fill in
05:05the negative space you create.
05:07And once it starts to slow down the filling in,
05:09then you can lower your heat and spread it around.
05:12When I'm about 90% cooked,
05:14I'm going to add my filling right along the center.
05:16It's very common for people to be ambitious
05:18and overfill their omelets,
05:19but it's not going to hold together.
05:21A little bit of cheese.
05:22Lift my pan up.
05:23With the handle facing me, start to roll the omelet.
05:26I should get one more roll out of it.
05:28Make sure it looks nice.
05:29And that's our omelet.
05:30A little salad.
05:31I give myself an A plus.
05:35Hayashi rice is a Japanese omelet rice.
05:39Eggs.
05:40One of the four pieces.
05:42And heavy cream and a little bit salt.
05:45Then mix together.
05:47Mix well.
05:50Then after that, strainer.
05:52Yeah, just make sure there's no shell.
05:55Heat the fry pan.
05:58This is very important.
05:59Mix very well.
06:00It's very soft, smooth.
06:02Put the oil, like one ounce oil.
06:04The omelet base.
06:06Mix.
06:07So first of all, mix like a sprung egg.
06:10Make like a shape of a rugby ball.
06:13The surface is well done, but inside,
06:16half-cooked, very soft.
06:18Inside creamy, outside cooked.
06:20Then my omelet's finished.
06:22Next, the rice.
06:28Hayashi sauce is a demi-glace sauce
06:30with onion, mushroom, beef slice,
06:34then tomato, a little ketchup, parsley flakes.
06:37This is a perfect Hayashi omelet rice.
06:40So for my omelet recipe today,
06:43I'm gonna be doing what I do in the morning
06:45when I have no time and just want something big
06:49and something protein-filled.
06:50Okay, so my first step is gonna be to crack the eggs open.
06:53So I'm putting in some pepper right now.
06:56We're just gonna whisk.
06:58I think it's so much easier to use a fork
07:00just because you don't have to clean it.
07:01I mean, you have to clean the fork,
07:02but it's just so much easier to clean than a whisk.
07:06This is a splatter screen that my grandma used to use
07:09when she cooked.
07:10Yeah, we replaced the tinfoil and then clean it sometimes.
07:13I cover it because it cooks faster.
07:14This is mozzarella.
07:15It's fresh mozzarella, and I just sliced it.
07:18Love arugula, because it just tastes beautiful,
07:19but I also like color and everything.
07:21And then sometimes I just like to brown the sides of my egg
07:24by letting butter go off the edges of a pan.
07:28And if it's already not cooked kind of on the top,
07:31it sticks way better, so it rolls
07:33rather than just kind of flopping off.
07:35I still need to let it cook, but I think it's chillin'.
07:38Oh yeah, the cheese is lookin' so good.
07:40So this is a block of wood.
07:42It's my favorite thing.
07:43I feel like it just makes everything so much fancier.
07:45Now, just to make it look pretty
07:47and to make you feel like you're at a restaurant,
07:49you put things in random places.
07:51We're also gonna put some parsley on.
07:52Just add in color.
07:53I love the taste of smoked paprika.
07:56And then this is just a local hot sauce that I like.
07:59All right, so then we're gonna just add a little bit of a...
08:03This is my omelet a la joy.
08:05The omelet I'm making today is a French omelet.
08:08Very simple, very straightforward,
08:10but must be executed correctly.
08:11I like to do a three egg omelet.
08:14I think it gives you enough eggs to work with
08:16so that you can still have enough filling
08:18to keep it custardy.
08:20You wanna make sure everything's really scrambled nicely,
08:22but don't wanna over-incorporate too much air into them.
08:25Salt.
08:26So after I whisk the eggs, I like to strain it.
08:28I just find that it does clear out any whites
08:33and some foam in there,
08:34which I think helps with the texture.
08:35So when cooking an omelet, you wanna use a lower heat,
08:38low to medium, so that the proteins aren't over-coagulating.
08:41We cut all our butter into cubes at the restaurant.
08:44It just makes it easier to add it in
08:46when you're cooking a lot of omelets.
08:48It also allows for consistency.
08:50So you could say something takes two cubes or four cubes.
08:53So as the butter starts to melt,
08:55I'm going to add my eggs in.
08:59And I'm just gonna immediately start stirring this.
09:01I'm just gonna immediately start stirring them.
09:03With a soft-scramble French omelet,
09:05you really wanna kind of cater to the eggs.
09:08Can't let them sit on their own for too long.
09:11Turn that off.
09:11I'm also gonna now add a pinch of the herbs in.
09:14I like to do it closer to the end,
09:15just so it kind of keeps some of that
09:17fresh herb flavor in it.
09:18So as the eggs start to kind of soft-scramble,
09:20I like to start letting it set on the bottom a little bit.
09:23This is when I would start rolling the omelet
09:25to the edge of the pan.
09:26Sometimes if it's sticking a little more
09:28than you would like,
09:29you could add another little piece of butter in.
09:31So we get to the end,
09:32and this is when we'll flip it right out.
09:37And then elevate it with a touch of roe.
09:39Nothing too crazy,
09:40but it gives it a really nice salinity
09:42and a little extra pop and texture.
09:44Just to give it a touch of brightness
09:46because it is so rich and velvety,
09:48we'll put a little lemon zest.
09:50This is my go-to breakfast,
09:51and this looks perfect to me.
09:54This is gonna be a Spanish tortilla.
09:56The Spanish tortilla is the Spanish omelet,
09:58not necessarily kind of an American diner omelet,
10:01but this is gonna be the Spanish omelet
10:03taken to another level with added kimchi and Korean spices.
10:07All right, so we're gonna heat up the pan real quick.
10:09Get some olive oil in there.
10:11What we've done is we've par-cooked potatoes,
10:13onions, roasted kimchi.
10:15Right now I'm adding the kimchi.
10:17It's gonna add some spiciness,
10:19some of that fermentation,
10:20the sourness that we like,
10:21and kind of just make the tortilla a little more complex.
10:24And I'm gonna crack some eggs
10:25so that we can whisk them together.
10:28The key to a great Spanish tortilla
10:30is gonna be making sure that you temper the eggs first
10:32just so that it doesn't get shocked by the heat.
10:35If I were to add some of the egg directly to the heat
10:37or this super hot mixture into the egg,
10:39the eggs would start cooking.
10:41Now I wanna let this sit for a little bit.
10:43That's gonna drop the temperature.
10:44It's gonna coagulate the mixture a little bit.
10:46It's gonna develop the flavors
10:47so that when I add it back into the pan,
10:48we can start the omelet.
10:50I have our pan warm with a little bit of olive oil.
10:52We have our tempered mixture ready to go.
10:54The key to a great tortilla, Spanish tortilla,
10:58is making sure that the insides still stay gooey.
11:00A lot of people in Spain want it as runny as possible,
11:02kind of like an over-easy egg.
11:04But the idea is we're kind of having it
11:05that medium-rare texture.
11:07So bottom part is cooked.
11:09What we're gonna do now is we're gonna flip.
11:11Speed is your friend here.
11:12If we do it too slow, the tortilla is gonna collapse.
11:15It's gonna break apart.
11:17And slide it back in and finish cooking on the inside.
11:21It has kind of the fluffiness of an American omelet,
11:24but it also has that custardiness that we love
11:26on the inside of a French omelet.
11:28And what you wanna do is to kind of help form the shape
11:31of the omelet of the tortillas.
11:32You wanna take your spatula and kind of round out the edges.
11:38So we have our tortilla here.
11:42Add some aioli, an emulsification of garlic,
11:44egg yolk, and some vinegar.
11:47This is our Spanish tortilla with kimchi.
11:51With me, you don't have to sacrifice flavor
11:53with also nutrition.
11:54I'm gonna make a classic omelet.
11:55For a client, this is like the perfect way
11:57to start their day after a high-intensity workout,
11:59loaded with nutrients, loaded with lots of flavor.
12:02So as this butter is melting,
12:04I'm gonna go ahead and just start whisking my eggs.
12:06I like to make sure my eggs are nice and frothy,
12:08nice and bubbly.
12:09Same thing with my butter.
12:10Once it's nice and bubbly, then I know it's ready to go.
12:13So now what I'm gonna do,
12:14I'm gonna just do a soft scramble.
12:16I wanna keep the integrity of the shape, like a circle.
12:19All right, this is starting to look good.
12:21So for me, I like seafood.
12:22A lot of my clients enjoy seafood,
12:24so I'm gonna add some fresh lobster pieces
12:25right in the middle.
12:27Turn this up.
12:27Add some fresh crab.
12:29I'm gonna top it with some salt and pepper.
12:31And honestly, let's get fancy.
12:32Let's add some freshly grated asiago.
12:35Okay, just let this cook a little bit more.
12:37This is an everyday meal for some of my clients.
12:40I've spoiled them.
12:41Whatever they ask for, I just deliver.
12:42I know chefs usually like their omelets
12:44to be a little more blonde,
12:46but I like a little crust on my eggs.
12:48So now we're gonna add a Cajun cream sauce
12:50that's loaded with fresh crab and fresh lobster.
12:53I also incorporated some shallots,
12:54some garlic, some fresh thyme,
12:56and also a little bit of cilantro.
12:57And now I'm adding some chives for garnish.
13:02I'm gonna be making an Italian version
13:04of Japanese rolled omelet
13:06with all the flavorings from anchovy pizza.
13:09While the pan is heating, we'll mix the eggs,
13:11add in our seasonings, which are anchovies,
13:15and something we call sliced spice,
13:17which will also go on top of the omelet at the end.
13:20It's essentially Italian furikake.
13:21It's everything that goes on a regular slice
13:23at a slice shop.
13:24Oregano, chili, black pepper,
13:27and a few extra things that we add to make it our own.
13:31Kamudashi is really the beginning
13:34of the backbone stock of Japanese cooking.
13:37This is mixed with what we call tomato power
13:40that is part reduced tomato water
13:42and part reduced tomato kombucha that we make.
13:45We're not trying to mix a ton of air into the egg.
13:48We're actually going to pop any air bubbles.
13:51The air bubbles are really gonna prevent
13:54the structure that we're looking for.
13:56And we're ready to start cooking.
13:57We're gonna put an even layer of oil on the pan.
14:00I'm cooking the omelet layer by layer.
14:02Those two little eggs, making four layers,
14:05rolling them on each other.
14:07And now we're gonna turn it out onto a sushi mat
14:11to adjust the shape and make sure they're really together.
14:13This compresses the layers and makes sure
14:16that they're not gonna fall apart when we slice it.
14:19I'm gonna finish this with olive oil,
14:20a bit of lemon zest for freshness,
14:23and more of the sliced spice
14:25to really drive that pizza flavor home.
14:29At the Plaza, we take breakfast very seriously
14:31because that's the first meal of the day.
14:33So it's gonna be a French omelet with lobster
14:35and some caviar.
14:36This is what's make the Plaza really luxury.
14:38The key to have a great omelet
14:40is always to have a kg free eggs
14:41freshly delivered every day.
14:43We always absolutely use the best ingredients
14:44at the Plaza Hotel.
14:45You can see how it is really fresh.
14:47The egg yolk, you can see it is a very dark in color.
14:49Let's take some pinch of salt,
14:51add some nice black pepper, freshly ground it.
14:56So to have the best taste of omelet,
14:58you always use a clay pot.
15:00Put a small spoon inside here.
15:03Keep mixing the eggs,
15:04ensure like it's not always in the pan.
15:06Make sure like, you know,
15:07not to keep it always in the heat.
15:09You would just take it back and back and forth
15:10to make sure like you have a perfect cooked omelet.
15:13Once the omelet almost set,
15:14we can put our mix of lobster.
15:16So this is the lobster.
15:17We have it like planche and just mix with basil
15:19and lemon dressing as well.
15:21There's a big difference between like a guest
15:22ordering omelet in the restaurant
15:24or ordering in the room.
15:25In the restaurant, we cook it almost like 95%,
15:27but when it's in the room, we cook it almost 80%.
15:29We don't cook it fully cooked
15:31because if a guest like in a 10th floor
15:33or 15th floor in the hot boxes,
15:35that's gonna continue cooking.
15:36So we have a sourdough toast with avocado inside.
15:39Like we have a mix of avocado, scallions, and lime.
15:42And then we have the omelet.
15:44We use the claw on the top
15:45because just presentation
15:46and just like very soft part of the lobster.
15:49We take a nice sour cream, spoon, spoon.
15:52Add the caviar just for more luxury.
15:54I'm 100% sure that's the best breakfast
15:55you can have in New York City.
16:00In making meals for the world's longest flights,
16:02there's a lot to take in.
16:03And when we design the dish,
16:05we wanna design around good nutrition and wellness,
16:08digestibility, flavor is the most important,
16:11but obviously it has to be enjoyable
16:13and enjoyable nine hours later.
16:14So first we're gonna start off
16:16by putting a little extra virgin olive oil into the pan.
16:18We're trying to keep fats minimal here.
16:20One of the worst things to have on an airplane
16:22is an uncomfortable passenger.
16:24Imagine if you had this gigantic big burger
16:27with bacon and cheese.
16:28Sounds great until you're nine hours into the flight
16:31and you still have another eight hours to go.
16:33Now we're gonna add into this our shiitake mushrooms first.
16:36Having a veggie filling in the omelet
16:38has a lot to do with helping you digest that.
16:41All right, we're gonna add in our fresh zucchini now
16:43and we're gonna add in our bell pepper.
16:45Salt is important, it helps us taste,
16:47but at the same time, too much salt is not good,
16:49especially in an aircraft, it's gonna cause swelling
16:51and that's really something we're trying to avoid.
16:53Crack a fresh pepper.
16:54And now to make up for that missing salt,
16:57we're gonna add in some sumac,
16:58which is a wonderful zesty spice
17:01and a little crushed red chili flake.
17:03Let's start with the omelet.
17:04So we're gonna put the pan on cold, ready to go.
17:07We're starting to set up
17:08and I kinda like to just keep mixing this
17:10like it almost looks like scrambled eggs.
17:12Now this is our cue to add in our vegetables
17:15and we're gonna put a little sprinkle
17:16of Monterey Jack cheese.
17:18This is adding some good fats and some good protein.
17:21So we're gonna roll this omelet up now in thirds
17:24and then pull it out onto our foil kit.
17:27This is what is gonna be used
17:29to reheat the egg on board the aircraft.
17:31So we have our vinaigrette
17:33and we're gonna add some of that
17:35and we're gonna add some arugula into our foil.
17:39So this is what they would end up getting on board.
17:42The flight crew will see this
17:43and then we're gonna now plate.
17:45The seam is up so that the crew can roll the omelet
17:47now onto the plate.
17:48We're going to top it with our arugula.
17:50And now the last but not least
17:52is we're going to add our vinaigrette.
17:53Most people would be like,
17:55they're not gonna put vinaigrette on an omelet,
17:56but again, go back to on board.
17:59I don't have a lot of salt here.
18:00I don't have a lot of fat.
18:01I want to have a nice, light, bright flavor profile
18:04for the passenger.
18:05And we're just going to drizzle this around.
18:08And the amazing thing is here,
18:09I am a professional chef doing this for you
18:11and the flight crew on board the aircraft
18:13do this exact same plate up.
18:14It's really amazing.
18:15This looks exactly what I hope to see on board
18:18my next flight.
18:20So today we're making a spinach and cheese omelet wrap
18:24with a little bit of roasted tomato salsa.
18:26Our omelets do come pre-prepared
18:27because it is very difficult to feed
18:29over one million kids every single day.
18:31So this is why we have most of our proteins
18:33pre-cooked already to ensure nutritional standards.
18:36But all of the proteins that we receive are 100% natural,
18:39antibiotic free, and they're humanely raised.
18:41So the first thing that we have to do
18:43is heat up the omelet to 160 degrees.
18:45We're gonna make our roasted tomato salsa.
18:48Even though the tomatoes do come in a can,
18:50our job is to introduce a little more
18:52elaborate recipe making.
18:53By having a variety of spices,
18:55I am adding some cumin and chili powder, chili flakes,
18:58but I will be adding just a tiny bit.
19:00We are serving children,
19:01so we have to be careful with some of the flavor profiles
19:04that we are introducing.
19:05There's going to be some garlic as well,
19:08a small pinch of salt,
19:09and we're gonna spread this on a sheet,
19:10pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
19:13Next is a pico de gallo, but with a twist.
19:16This pico de gallo will consist of pears and apples,
19:19peppers, cilantro, lemon juice, and garlic.
19:22This is a fun way to show the kids
19:24that the apples don't have to be boring.
19:26Acid helps compensate for the lack of sodium and sugar.
19:29It helps marry all of the flavors
19:31into a cohesive, delicious dish.
19:33So now that we have our omelet right out of the warmer,
19:36even though our proteins come pre-cooked,
19:38we have to ensure that they come up to temp
19:40just to ensure safety.
19:41I'm gonna temp my tomatoes as well.
19:43Excellent.
19:44We're gonna take this tortilla wrap.
19:45All of our wraps and breads are at least 51% whole wheat.
19:48Then we're gonna add some fresh spinach
19:50because we want some fresh greens in there.
19:53We're gonna place the eggs on top of the spinach,
19:55two slices of American cheese,
19:57and a nice scoopful of our beautiful tomato salsa.
19:59So all of these ingredients here
20:01fulfill the requirement for a healthy breakfast.
20:05Mmm.
20:06Oh my God.
20:08Excellent.
20:09That's a good omelet.
20:10Oishii desu.
20:11It's perfect.
20:12Okay, can I say that?
20:13That is delicious.