How to Prepare a Beautiful Souffle Omelet

Simple Omelets

I am a big fan of simple omelets. My brother-in-law, Bill, makes the best one-egg omelets whenever we visit him at State College, PA. They are simple to prepare and delicious for breakfast or a light dinner.

Chef Robert Reynolds takes a simple omelet and "whips the life out of the eggs" and cooks it in the oven rather than on the stove and makes a "magical thing". It is a cooking lesson demonstrating how easy it is to take your cooking to another level.

Update

Chef Robert Reynolds left us in 2012. He was the founder of The Chef Studio in Portland and mentored many students in the U.S. and France for more than 30 years.

Prior to that, Reynolds owned and operated Le Trou, a restaurant in San Francisco for 15 years. He passed away on Aug. 27 after a lengthy battle with lymphoma. He was 70 years old.

📖 Recipe

Print Recipe

Souffle Omelet

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time8 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Servings: 4 - 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup cake crumbs or lady fingers

Rum Syrup

• ½ cup water
• ½ cup sugar and up to ¼ cup dark Rum
• ¼ cup dark rum add the rum until you taste it

Prepare the Souffle

• 5 fresh eggs “preferably from chicken with names”
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoon powdered sugar
• pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon orange flower water
• 1 tablespoon butter unsalted

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375° F.
• Moisten the cake or lady fingers with the rum syrup, enough to soften, but not soaked.
• Beat the eggs with the sugar, vanilla, orange flower water and a pinch of salt until they start to stiffen, about 1 minute.
• Add the powdered sugar and continue beating until they double in volume, and start to stiffen, about a minute more.
• Melt the butter in a 9-inch skillet over medium heat until it starts to foam without browning.
• Pour in the egg mixture. Cook for about 2 minutes until, when you slip a spatula under the omelet, you can see that it has started to develop golden color on the bottom.
• Put the skillet into the oven and let the omelet cook for another 3 or 4 minutes until the eggs have souffle and lightly firmed. The center should not be liquid.
• Remove from the oven and arrange the cake crumbs in a line across the omelet. Allow it to sit for a minute or two before carefully inverting and rolling it onto a plate.
• Add a garnish of seasonal berries, but don't be afraid to serve the omelet plain.
• Slice in 4 to 6 parts, dust with powdered sugar and serve.