Found some leftover whites or just looking forward to lose some pounds? Let’s make this egg whites omelet till they last!
What’s the story?
The history of life on Earth is full of unexpected circumstances, resulted the disappearance of species and the rise of another. Talk about the mass extinction of the dinosaurs due to a stray meteorite or the disappearance of native fauna due to the invasion of accidentally introduced species.
The direct consequences are always devastating but if the species are able to adapt to the new environment, they may come out of it better than they were before. Humanity had its fair share of tough times during our history. Many of our battle scares are written into our DNA, such as the ability of metabolizing other mammals’ milk or our traditions of eating a lot of meat.
Are changes bad?
In medieval Europe, people rarely eat meat and they mostly relied on carbs like legumes, barley, rye, oat, and wheat if they could afford it. When the Black death, that wiped half of Europe population out, had not just been allowed more food for the remaining people but more meat, essentially paving the road what we walk on today.
Labor shortages freed up land from farming, that allowed pasturing take up bigger spaces, hence lowered the price of meat production and increased overall meat consumption in the population.
Unfortunately, it still didn’t mean that everybody could eat to their fill. Lent was still widely practiced as a way to keep the winter food stock last till spring, and in less to do homes where Easter ham was rarely seen, eggs were always a welcomed sight.
What’s the omelet’s story?
The art of making omelet is old. Not as old as the discovery of the eggs, a viable nourishment but since people could use skillets, they probably made omelet. Most likely scrambled eggs were present in human’s diet way earlier but making scrambled eggs and omelets are worlds or more precisely skillets apart.
Earliest omelets are believed to have originated in ancient Persia but since then wide variety of omelets sprung to life. The Italiana frittata with all sorts of goodies, the Spanish Tortilla de Patatas with potato or the gold standard French omelet are all heard of apart, of course the normal classic omelet that we make in our kitchen.
Some may even heard about the fancy looking and skill heavy Japanese Omurice or Chinese egg foo yung but in reality, eggs run much deeper in the veins of the human race than just to have a handful of dishes made from them.
Does omelet need skills?
Saddle changes in technique yield completely different outcomes combining that with ingredients and there we have a dish that can come out different every time we make it.
Such diversity has its drawback though. If we want to make the exact same dish that we enjoyed before, we don’t just have to use the same ingredients, but use the exact same technique too.
While using the exact same technique when making a soup or stew will not pose any challenge, managing to heat the skillet to the exact same temperature and folding the egg over itself will require a couple of dozen eggs to be sacrificed on the altar of the perfect French omelet.
French or American omelet?
A French omelet needs the butter to be heated on medium-low to medium heat, preferably without browning but opinions may differ there. The eggs must be stirred continuously to prevent the curds forming and sticking, then the omelet has to be folded up and rolled out from the skillet to be served.
Luckily, the omelet, we know isn’t that picky. The American omelet isn’t frown upon browning the butter a bit or a bit more on higher heat. The eggs are just raked into the middle lazily until only the top part is wet. It’s folded into half right in the skillet and with a bit of additional butter browned slightly then served.
Why egg whites?
Not like much butter is allowed when we are on a diet due to its high calorie count, especially not when we make our omelet from egg whites to shave off a couple of calories there, too.
Egg white is 90% water and about 10% protein. It makes up 2/3 of the eggs weight and primary purpose is to protect the egg yolk which is the main nutritional-bearing portion of the eggs.
Fun fact that copper bowls, used in fancy French kitchen, are not only there to have someone to clean something when the kitchen doesn’t work on full load. Copper stabilizes egg whites by reacting with the sulfur found in it. Silver also works but not many of us willing to beat eggs in their silverware.
Why not egg whites?
A word of precaution. Although egg whites are good source of biotin (a form of vitamin B) do not eat egg whites raw daily as it inhibits biotin absorption by the body which can cause severe deficiencies and eventually death.
So even though if bulking up with 4 dozen eggs seems like a good idea, try not to do it raw and there will be no beast that can stand in the way.
Ingredients
- 5 Egg whites (for 3 eggs omelette)
- ½ teaspoon / 3g Salt
- 1 tablespoon / 15g Butter
- Optional (fry ingredients beforehand if necessary)
- Cheese (grated)
- Scallion or chives (finely chopped)
- Ham, bacon (finely chopped)
- Caramelized onion
How to make Egg white omelete
Traditional American Style
- Separate eggs.
- Add salt to egg whites and beat with a fork until slightly fluffy.
- Heat skillet to medium to high then melt half of the butter. Adding enough butter is crucial to make lovely looking egg omelet, don’t skimp on it.
- If there is any ingredients that need a bit of frying, this is the time to do it. Once it is done, take them out and proceed with the next step.
- Pour in the egg whites.
- In a couple of seconds, the bottom of the egg whites start to solidify. With a fork, rake the egg whites from the sides to the middle, essentially creating a little peak. The remaining liquid egg white should take the pulled up egg white’s place.
- Run a fork or spatula around the egg, releasing egg whites from the side of the skillet.
- Add any optional ingredients like cheese, scallion or ham.
- Fold the egg white omelete in half.
- Add the other half of the butter, let it melt and fry the egg a couple of extra seconds until golden brown.
- Flip the egg white omelete out, garnish and serve.
Enjoy!
Egg White Omelet
Ingredients
- 5 Egg whites for 3 eggs omelette
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- Optional fry ingredients beforehand if necessary
- Cheese grated
- Scallion or chives finely chopped
- Ham bacon (finely chopped)
Instructions
- Separate eggs.
- Add salt to egg whites and beat with a fork until slightly fluffy.
- Heat skillet to medium to high then melt half of the butter. Adding enough butter is crucial to make lovely looking egg omelet, don't skimp on it.
- If there is any ingredients that need a bit of frying, this is the time to do it. Once it is done, take them out and proceed with the next step.
- Pour in the egg whites.
- In a couple of seconds, the bottom of the egg whites start to solidify. With a fork, rake the egg whites from the sides to the middle, essentially creating a little peak. The remaining liquid egg white should take the pulled up egg white's place.
- Run a fork or spatula around the egg, releasing egg whites from the side of the skillet.
- Add any optional ingredients like cheese, scallion or ham.
- Fold the egg white omelete in half.
- Add the other half of the butter, let it melt and fry the egg a couple of extra seconds until golden brown.
- Flip the egg white omelete out, garnish and serve.
Notes
Pin now, Enjoy later!
