Evening star., 1923-08-05

Il omelet can you make?" l
asked of the American
- lady, who, unasked- had
just salted all the little pats of sweet,
fresh unsalted butter provided for the
whole table. had wished to ask her
if she salted the cream for her straw
berries, but tried an indirect attack.
1t failed. She answered:
why, any one can make a plain
omelet and sweet omelet and you
can mess up omelet with tomato
Sauce-and 1 see other recipes some
times in the Sunday newspapers.
Have you some new recipe?'
Madam" I replied. Il am no cook
and know not recipes-but in the
cheap popular restaurants of Paris
where poor people like myself often
eat / can order dozens of different
kinds of omelets."
She was interested but held her
ground: We'll. in my opinion an eggs
an egg and an omelet's an omelet the
world round"
Madam" I persisted, did you
never hear of the French cook who
ways of cooking eggs? These pop
ular cooks do not try to rival that
chef for royalty, but only serve up
dozens of simple dishes, such as their
great grandmother invented all over
France. May / tell you few only
of the many omelets l have eaten at
the hands of French woman cooks
without indigestion-and without
pre- judice?"
81 am not prejudiced," she said, but
do not like messes."
/ was silent on the salted butter
and proceeded to dissert. Since trav-
cling Americans have begun eating
in these popular restaurants, which
are so much cheaper than the high
priced hotels and cafes, the plain
French omelet has had to undouble
itself. as naturalists say of species
that split into varieties Most Amer
leans insist on having their omelets
dry-"Don't let it 'bave'," said one to
, his waiter. He knew some French
since "bave" in French means 'drul-
ing"
What he wants is crepe (pan-
cake)," the waiter girl, white -sleeved,
Iwhite-bonneted and white-aproned,
whispered. He got it and l am afraid
-four got into it, which, of course,
should never enter an unadulterated
omelet Mother Poulard. whose shin
ing generous omelets drew almost as
many tourists to Mont Saint Michel
as the romantic Abbey itself, ex
planned her secret to me many years
ago:
81 use plenty of butter" In fact,
they came on the table all a-tremble,
like a jelly vanished golden and
resplendent. AS the French say
'1They let themselves be eaten"
So here, from the start, are two
sorts of omelet-the wet and the dry
the latter of which is not par
ticularly French. There is also the
plain sweet omelet. which itself is a
starting point for any number of
other further developed sweet om-
elets. One at time.
In France all omelets are luncheon
dishes-the plainl taking their place
at the beginning of the meal as a
| FIRST substantial dish quite like fish
! cr meat and the sweet at the end like
puddings Any omelet begins round
| like the pan it is cooked in, as Napo-
leon found when he tried to show off
to Marie Louise and tossed up the
omelet to turn ton the floor. If
you want a raw tomato omelet, you
dump the cooked round on a platter
| ard spread on one-half of it small
pulpy chunks of ripe tomato, such
| as you would put into a salad-and
you whop the other half over on top.
The resulting oval shape is common
to all omelets that have got beyond
| the plain stage-for one side has al
ways to be whopped over that which