An omelette (sometimes omelet in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

; see

spelling differences Despite the various English dialects spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in English orthography, the two most notable variations being British and Americ ...

) is a dish made from eggs (usually chicken eggs), fried with

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

or oil in a frying pan. It is a common practice for an omelette to include fillings such as

chives Chives, scientific name ''Allium schoenoprasum'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae. A perennial plant, ''A. schoenoprasum'' is widespread in nature across much of Eurasia and North America. It is the only spe ...

vegetable Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...

mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

(often ham or

bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

s or some combination of the above. Whole eggs or

egg white Egg white is the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens, it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms a ...

s are often beaten with a small amount of

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

, or water.

History

Omelettes are believed to have originated in ancient Persia. According to ''Breakfast: A History'', they were "nearly indistinguishable" from the Iranian dish kookoo sabzi. According to Alan Davidson, the French word ''omelette'' () came into use during the mid-16th century, but the versions ''alumelle'' and ''alumete'' are employed by the Ménagier de Paris (II, 4 and II, 5) in 1393. Rabelais (''

Gargantua and Pantagruel ''The Five Books of the Lives and Deeds of Gargantua and Pantagruel'' (), often shortened to ''Gargantua and Pantagruel'' or the (''Five Books''), is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. It tells the advent ...

'', IV, 9) mentions an ''homelaicte d'oeufs'', Olivier de Serres an ''amelette'', François Pierre La Varenne's ''Le cuisinier françois'' (1651) has ''aumelette'', and the modern ''omelette'' appears in ''Cuisine bourgeoise'' (1784).

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...

discusses several variations of omelette in his ''Grand dictionnaire de cuisine''. One is an omelette with fresh herbs (parsley, chives and

tarragon Tarragon (''Artemisia dracunculus''), also known as estragon, is a species of perennial herbaceous plant, herb in the family Asteraceae. It is widespread in the wild across much of Eurasia and North America and is cultivated for culinary and medic ...

), another is a variation with mushrooms that Dumas says may be adapted using green peas,

asparagus Asparagus (''Asparagus officinalis'') is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus ''Asparagus (genus), Asparagus'' native to Eurasia. Widely cultivated as a vegetable crop, its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. Description ...

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to Central Asia, Central and Western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common vegetable consumed eit ...

sorrel Sorrel (''Rumex acetosa''), also called common sorrel or garden sorrel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock ("dock" being a common name for the genus ''Ru ...

or varieties of truffles. The "kirsch omelette " (or rum omelette) is a sweet omelette made with sugar and liquor, either

kirsch ''Kirschwasser'' (, , ; German for 'cherry water'), or just ''Kirsch'' (; the term used in Switzerland and France, less so in Germany), is a clear, colourless brandy from Germany, Switzerland, and France, traditionally made from double distill ...

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced i ...

. The omelette is rolled and sprinkled with powdered sugar. A hot poker is used to burn a design into the omelette and it is served with a sweet sauce made of liquor and apricot jam. Another sweet omelette, attributed to a royal cook of Prussia, is made with

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s and brown sugar glaze. Of the Arabian omelette, Dumas writes "I have been concerned in this book to give the recipes of peoples who have no true cuisine. Here, for example, is a recipe the Bey's cook was good enough to give me." The omelette itself is made with an

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

egg and served with a spicy tomato-pepper sauce.

Variations by country

China

* Egg foo young, a

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

omelette made with beaten eggs and usually ham. * An oyster omelette, a dish of

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

and Teochew origin made with oysters, starch and egg batter

France

* Depending on sources, a standard omelette is cooked in butter on medium (or sometimes high) heat, is supposed to be golden brown or "unbrowned or very lightly browned" on the outside and soft in the inside Ginette Mathiot (éd), ''La Cuisine pour tous'', 1955, p.107 : "(...) laissez cuire à feu vif. L'omelette doit être dorée à l'extérieur, baveuse au centre." (though variations are possible according to preferences); according to some American cookbooks reflecting high-end restaurant practices, a "French Omelette" should be unbrowned, cooked slowly over medium-low to medium heat, with initial stirring to prevent curds and sticking. Seasoned with just salt and pepper, this omelette is often flavored with finely chopped herbs (often fines herbes or

, chervil,

parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum''), is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to Greece, Morocco and the former Yugoslavia. It has been introduced and naturalisation (biology), naturalized in Eur ...

and

) or chopped

s. * The omelette de la mère Poulard, a Norman specialty first developed in Mont-Saint-Michel, has been called the most famous omelette in the world. It is served without fillings but often served with heavy garnishes. * The Provençal omelette is more similar to a frittata than to a traditional rolled or folded French omelette. The eggs are cooked like a traditional French omelette until the time any fillings are added; instead of adding fillings in a strip or on half the omelette, they are scattered over the entire surface of the omelette, and then the entire omelette is flipped and slipped back into the pan to cook what had been the top and is now the bottom. A tourne omelette or vire omelette, a concave platter similar to a cake plate, is often used as an aid and can be used to serve the finished omelette. According to Bernard Duplessy the tourne omelette dates to "several centuries before Christ". * Crespéou, another Provençal dish (also called ''gateau d'omelettes'' or ''omelettes en sandwich''), is made by stacking open-faced omelettes.

India

* In Parsi cuisine, ''pora'' is an omelette made from eggs, onion, tomato, green chillies, and coriander leaves. It is usually served for breakfast with Indian/ Irani tea and bread. * In India, eggs are beaten with onions and poured directly on a hot pan with salt and pepper. These omelettes are consumed frequently in many Indian households. * Bread Omlette, a widespread indian snack made with bread and egg is famous across India. * In South Indian hotels, omlette is mixed with the mutton gravy (''salna'') in a semi-cooked manner and many omlette variants like ''Kalakki, Plain Omlette, Karandi Omlette, Podi Omlette'' are widespread found in Tamilnadu.

Indonesia

* In Betawi cuisine, '' kerak telor'' is a traditional spicy omelette that made from glutinous rice cooked with egg and served with '' serundeng'' (fried shredded coconut), fried shallots and dried shrimp as topping. * '' Fuyunghai'' or ''puyonghai'' is a Chinese Indonesian omelette, usually made from the mixture of vegetables such as carrots, bean sprouts, and cabbages, mixed with meats such as crab, shrimp, or minced chicken.

Iran

*'' Iranian omelette'' is an omelette differing from its European counterpart in that it contains tomatoes, tomato paste and frequently other ingredients such as fried onions. *''

Kuku Kuku may refer to: People * Emir-Usein Kuku (born 1976), Crimean Tatar human rights defender * John Dean Kuku (born 1963), Solomon Islands politician * Kuku people, an ethnic group in South Sudan * Kuku Yulanji, an Aboriginal people of the Dai ...

'' is an omelette frequently containing large proportions of other ingredients, including herbs, folded in. *'' Nargesi'' or spinach omelette is an Iranian dish, made with fried onions and

, and is spiced with salt,

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

, and pepper.

Italy

* A '' frittata'' is an open-faced

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

omelette-like dish that can contain cheese, vegetables, or even leftover

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an Leavening agent, unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or Eggs as food, eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Pasta was originally on ...

. Frittatas are cooked slowly. Except for the cooking oil, all ingredients are fully mixed with the eggs before cooking starts.

Japan

* In

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, '' tamagoyaki'' is a traditional omelette in which eggs are beaten with

mirin is a type of rice wine and a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, Japanese cooking. It is similar to sake but with a lower alcohol (drug), alcohol content and higher sugar content. The sugar content is a complex carbohydrate that forms natur ...

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

, bonito flakes, sugar and water, and cooked in a special rectangular frying pan. *'' Omurice'' (from the French word "omelette" and English word "rice") is an omelette filled with fried rice and usually served with a large amount of tomato ketchup. ''Omu-soba'' is an omelette with ''

yakisoba (, , ) is a Japanese noodle Stir frying, stir-fried dish. Usually, soba noodles are made from buckwheat flour, but soba in are Chinese-style noodles () made from wheat flour, typically flavored with a condiment similar to Worcestershire sauce ...

'' as its filling. There are several styles of this dish, including omelette cooked and filled with fried rice, a soft-cooked omelette served over the fried rice that is then sliced open, and a "tornado" style omelette over the rice. * ''

Tenshindon ''Tenshindon'' (), also known as ''tenshinhan'' (), is a Japanese Chinese cuisine, Japanese Chinese specialty, consisting of a crab meat omelette on rice, named after Tianjin in North China, northern China.Japanese- Chinese specialty, consisting of a

crab meat Crab meat, also known as crab marrow, is the edible meat found in a crab, or more specifically in its legs and claws. It is widely used in global cuisines for its soft, delicate and sweet flavor. Crab meat is low in fat, and provides about o ...

omelette on rice.

Korea

In Korean cuisine, traditional omelettes are known as '' gyeran-mari'' (계란말이, "rolled-eggs") which is a type of savory ''

banchan ''Banchan'' ( ; ; ) are small side dishes served along with cooked rice in Korean cuisine. ''Banchan'' are often set in the middle of the table to be shared. At the center of the table is the secondary main course, such as ''galbi'' or ''bulg ...

''. ''Gyeran-mari'' is made with beaten eggs, mixed with finely diced vegetables, meats, and seafood. This side dish is often found in Korean banquet ('' janchi'') meals, as well as Korean fast food ('' bunsik'') restaurants.

Mexico and Central America

While the Spanish terms ''tortilla'' (in Spain) and ''torta'' (in the Philippines) are applied to an omelette dish, in Mexico & Central America ''tortilla'' is a term for a flatbread made of wheat or corn, while ''torta'' is used for a type of sandwich. An omelette in Mexico (& Central America) is sometimes termed as ''tortilla de huevos'', but the term ''omelette'' is widely used.

Philippines

In the Philippines, omelettes are known as ''

torta Torta is a culinary term that can, depending on the cuisine, refer to cakes, pies, flatbreads, sandwiches, or omelettes. Usually, it refers to: * cake or pie in South America, much of Europe, and southern Philippines * flatbread in Spain * a t ...

'', usually encountered with the enclitic ''-ng'' ("''tortang''") indicating it modifies the next word (the main ingredient); e.g. ''tortang hipon'' = ''torta'' ("omelette") + ''-ng'' and ''hipon'' ("shrimp"), meaning "shrimp omelette". There are many types of ''torta'' which are named based on their main ingredients. They include: * '' Tortang alamang'' or ''tortang hipon'' – an omelette with

krill Krill ''(Euphausiids)'' (: krill) are small and exclusively marine crustaceans of the order (biology), order Euphausiacea, found in all of the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian language, Norwegian word ', meaning "small ...

or small shrimp. Also known as shrimp fritters, although this term usually refers to '' okoy'', a

fritter A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables, or other ingredients which have been Batter (cooking), battered or breading, breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-frying, deep-fried. Fritters ar ...

made with shrimp and various vegetables (as well as other variations without shrimp). *'' Tortang carne norte'' – an omelette made from corned beef mixed with eggs. A common cheap breakfast dish. *'' Tortang dulong'' or ''maranay'' – an omelette, usually crispy, made with tiny fish from the family

Salangidae Salangidae, the icefishes or noodlefishes, are a family of small osmeriform fish, related to the smelts. They are found in Eastern Asia, ranging from the Russian Far East in the north to Vietnam in the south, with the highest species richness ...

known as ''dulong'' in Tagalog and ''ipon'', ''libgao'', or ''maranay'' in Visayan. It is sometimes called '' okoy'', though traditional ''okoy'' is not an omelette, but rather a type of fritter made with glutinous rice. * '' Tortang giniling'' or ''tortang picadillo'' – an omelette with ground meat (usually beef or pork) and sautéed vegetables. * '' Tortang gulay'' – an omelette with peppers, mushrooms, onion, and garlic. * '' Tortang kalabasa'' – an omelette made with finely julienned calabaza, eggs, flour, and salt. * '' Tortang kamote'' – an omelette made with mashed sweet potato, eggs, flour, and salt. * '' Tortang sardinas'' – an omelette made with shredded canned smoked sardines ('' tinapa'') * ''

Tortang talong ''Tortang talong'', also known as eggplant omelette, is an omelette or fritter from Cuisine of the Philippines, Filipino cuisine made by pan-frying grilling, grilled whole eggplants dipped in an egg mixture. It is a popular breakfast and lunc ...

'' – an eggplant omelet with whole grilled eggplants. Versions stuffed with ground meat ('' giniling'') and vegetables are called ''relyenong talong''.

Pontic Greeks

* is an omelette made by the

Pontic Greeks The Pontic Greeks (; or ; , , ), also Pontian Greeks or simply Pontians, are an ethnically Greek group indigenous to the region of Pontus, in northeastern Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). They share a common Pontic Greek culture that is di ...

. ''Foustoron'' is made with eggs fried in butter or oil; the omelette can be served plain or seasoned. Some modern varieties include yogurt and cheese. The recipe varied widely by region: some recipes included onion and dried red peppers, while others did not.

Spain

* The Spanish '' tortilla de patatas'', or ''tortilla española'' in other Spanish-speaking countries, is a traditional and very popular thick omelette containing sliced

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es sautéed in

cooking oil Cooking oil (also known as edible oil) is a plant or animal liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. Oil allows higher cooking temperatures than water, making cooking faster and more flavorful, while likewise distributing h ...

. It often includes sliced onions (''tortilla de patata con cebolla'') and less commonly other additional fillings, such as

bell peppers The bell pepper (also known as sweet pepper, paprika, pepper, capsicum or, in some parts of the US midwest, mango) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in diff ...

, or diced ham.

Thailand

* In

Thai cuisine Thai cuisine (, , ) is the national cuisine of Thailand. Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with aromatics and spicy heat. The Australian chef David Thompson (chef), David Thompson, an expert on Thai food, observes that ...

, a traditional omelette is called ''khai chiao'' ไข่เจียว (''khai'' meaning "egg", and ''chiao'' meaning splattered), in which the beaten egg mixture and a small quantity of fish sauce is deep fried in a wok filled with 1–2 cups of vegetable oil and served over steamed rice. The dish is usually served with Sriracha sauce and cilantro. A variation on this dish is ''khai chiao songkhrueang'', where the plain egg omelette is served together with a stir-fry of meat and vegetables. Yet another type of Thai omelette is '' khai yat sai'', literally "eggs filled with stuffing".

United Kingdom

An omelette Arnold Bennett incorporates smoked

haddock The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the Family (biology), family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the Monotypy, monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Oce ...

, hard cheese (typically Cheddar) and cream.Ayto, John
"Arnold Bennett"
''The Diner's Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2020 It was created by the chef Jean Baptiste Virlogeux at the Savoy Grill in London for the writer

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaborati ...

, who was a frequent customer. Cooks including

Marcus Wareing Marcus Wareing (born 29 June 1970) is an English celebrity chef who was Chef-Owner of the one- Michelin-starred restaurant Marcus until its permanent closure in December 2023. Since 2014, Wareing has been a judge on '' MasterChef: The Professiona ...

, Delia Smith,

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, television presenter, and writer. His restaurant group, List of restaurants owned or operated by Gordon Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has ...

, Felicity Cloake and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have published recipes.

United States

* The Denver omelette, also known as a Southwest omelette or Western omelette, is filled with diced ham, onions, and green bell peppers, though there are many variations on fillings. Often served in the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

, it sometimes has a topping of cheese and a side dish of

hash browns Hash browns, also spelled hashed browns and hashbrowns, are a popular American breakfast food consisting of finely julienned potatoes that have been fried until golden brown. Hash browns are a staple breakfast item at diners in North America, w ...

or fried potatoes. * The hangtown fry, containing bacon and breaded oysters, originated in

Placerville, California Placerville (, ; ''placer'', Spanish for "sand deposit", representing the placer mining that was predominant in the town's development, and ''ville'', French for "town") is a city in and the county seat of El Dorado County, California, United S ...

, during the

Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

. * The

omelette omits the

yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example bec ...

s to remove

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

and

cholesterol Cholesterol is the principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body Tissue (biology), tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in Animal fat, animal fats and oils. Cholesterol is biosynthesis, biosynthesized by all anima ...

Gallery

File:Neary Khmer, 2018-01-02 (009).jpg,

Bitter melon ''Momordica charantia'' (commonly called bitter melon, cerassee, goya, bitter apple, bitter gourd, bitter squash, balsam-pear, karela, karavila and many more #Uses, names listed below) is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitac ...

omelette, a common dish in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

File:Omlette-fold.jpg, An omelette foldover File:Masala omelette with bread toasties.jpg, Masala omelette with bread toasties File:Veggie Omelette upside down.jpg, Vegetable omelette

References

External links

{{Authority control World cuisine Types of food Breakfast Iranian cuisine Ancient dishes