I felt that Raymond Sokolov’s recent article in The Wall Street Journal on “The Best Power Breakfasts” didn’t cover New York well enough. Because I am the consummate egg mavin, I often have my own power breakfasts with national magazine food editors because they are the celebrities that I seek out and breakfast lends itself to talk about eggs.

For an omelet, there’s the Brasserie or Balthazar. If the French can’t do it, who can? Sokolov mentions Norma’s at the Parker Meridian. While I didn’t try the $1,000 frittata, I just love their poached eggs on duck confit hash – it is awesome!

Country in the Carlton on Madison Avenue serves coddled eggs in a small mason jar. How quaint is that? In my mind, coddled eggs are strictly Victorian and not done anymore. It’s an egg dropped atop cheese and sometimes spinach in a pretty and delicate porcelain screw-top “coddler”. The coddler is then put in boiling water until the egg is set. Glad that Country resurrected coddled eggs. These days you can do them at home in an empty baby food jar, too.

Landmarc in the Time Warner Center serves eggs poached in red wine. They also serve French toasted brioche by the half-loaf and a wonderful bacon and gruyere omelet.

The WSJ article credits the Regency as launching the first of what was called “power breakfasts” and I remember when it was happening. Then Mayor Ed Koch was seen there all the time eating eggs. I know that because I saw him there several times. I wanted to be part of that breakfast set, too.

DOES YOUR COMPUTER SPEAK FRENCH?I live, eat and breathe eggs. So whenever I hear of a new egg dish to try, I’m there! I recently learned that oeufs en meurette was being served for breakfast at Landmarc restaurant in the Time-Warner Center in New York. Oeufs en meurette is simply eggs poached in red wine.I went to have some with Bret Thorn, the food editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Elizabeth Alston, the now retired food editor of Woman’s Day and before that, Redbook magazines. While really enjoying our oeufs en meurette (served at Landmarc with a red wine, mushroom and lardon – which is French bacon – sauce), the subject of the history of the dish came up. I had heard or read somewhere that the dish traditionally heralded a new season of wine in France and that when the wine casks were cracked open, the first pours went into a pot in which eggs were poached and served for the vintners’ breakfasts. That story sounds as if it might be right, no?Not satisfied with my hearsay story, Elizabeth insisted on looking up the origins of oeufs en meurette herself but all of the Google results were, of course, in French! I was able to find this recipe on Epicurious but still can’t confirm my story about the vintners. If anyone has any information on the true origins of this beautiful egg dish, please I’d love to hear them!

Here it is! My recipe for world-record omelet. See if you can make one if 40 seconds!!

Here’s what you will need: 2 large eggs2 tablespoons of waterSalt and pepper1 tbsp. butter or margarine¼ - ½-cup fillings (see below)

You can use whatever fillings you would like. Here are some of my favorites: Ham, cheeses, mushrooms, bell peppers, chopped onions spinach, shrimp, cottage cheese, bacon, chicken, black olives, salsa, apple pie filling, pecans, tomatoes, spinach, dill, ranch salad dressing, dry white wine, etc., etc.

Here’s how you do it!

Beat together 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons of water until blended. In a 10-inch coated pan, heat butter or margarine until it sizzles. Pour in egg mixture. With a spatula, pull cooked portions of egg from the perimeter of the pan to the center so that uncooked egg can reach the hot pan surface, tilting the pan and moving it as necessary to keep the egg shaped round on the bottom of the pan. Do this until the egg is set and will not flow, but is still very wet on top (should take about 20-seconds). Don’t cook it until it’s dry! The moist egg will cook when the omelet is folded.

Sprinkle all of the fillings on the left side of the egg (left handed people fill the right side). Slide the spatula all the way under the unfilled side of the omelet up to the center of it. Fold the unfilled side entirely over the filled side. Set aside spatula.

Holding the pan in your right hand and a plate in your left hand, invert the pan so the omelet falls upside down onto the plate (left handed people use opposite hands). Add garnish if you like!

 

Are you an omelet pro? Or do you need some help when it comes to cooking omelets? Watch this video to find out some of my “tricks of the trade” for omelet making.

In addition to breaking the record for cooking the most omelets, I’ve also managed to break the Guinness records for omelet flipping and the fastest single omelet!

HAPPY WORLD EGG DAY!  I came across this great egg event in New Orleans and wanted to share it with everyone! At Café Adelaide on October 16, there will be a special dinner “featuring the humble egg in all its glory” with some very elaborate egg dishes prepared by Chefs Danny Trace and Tory McPhail. Some of the menu items include crab boil poached eggs, caviar deviled eggs and a dark chocolate torte - YUMMY!!!  If you’re in   New Orleans on October 16, make a reservation for this egg dinner at Café Adelaide and let me know how it is! 

I wanted to share this video on how to make a basic omelet, which is from AmericasWorstCook.com. That site has a lot of great instructional videos, recipes and tips so check it out!

A Satellite Media Tour allows me to demonstrate my omelet making prowess to television studios across the country without ever leaving Chicago (that’s where I do it from). I’m beamed up into the cosmos, seized by a satellite then beamed back down to earth! I’m totally in awe of that.      

Earlier this week I visited 16 cities across the country in one, short 5-hour morning. I was as far east as Philadelphia and as far west as

Eugene, Oregon, with stops in the mid- and south-west in between. At each stop I celebrated World Egg Day on a local morning television program.    

Okay. Not everyone knew that on October 12th the whole world celebrates eggs. And why not?  Eggs may be the world’s most ubiquitous food. Wherever you go, there they are… as inexpensive, as versatile and as nutritious as they are here in the

U.S. And that was my “handle” for talking-up omelets. It was a good one. I demonstrated my speedy 40-second omelet technique, but instead of using ham and cheddar fillings, I wrapped my eggs around ingredients with international flavors.   

I offered each show’s host (sometimes more than one) their choice. They could have an Italian omelet with delicious store bought pesto stirred into the egg and filled with prosciutto, mozzarella cheese and sautéed mushrooms. They could choose a Chinese omelet made with leftover carry-out Chinese food with a dash of sesame oil in the egg and fresh bean sprouts added inside for crunch, a dash of soy sauce and with duck sauce brushed over the top. The French Omelet Lorraine I offered had white wine in the egg and was filled with Gruyere (or Swiss) cheese and turkey bacon (to cut down on the fat) and brushed withDijon mustard on top. Then I offered my Mexican omelet that was filled with store bought southwestern flavored chicken strips, red and green bell peppers, green chilies and diced red onions, and wrapped in a flour tortilla.

     Probably the most amazing thing about the Satellite Media Tour was that even though I couldn’t see the people I was talking with and I was hearing them through an earpiece, once the program got underway I swear my brain put me right there with them (or them there with me)! Not for one minute did it occur to me that we were traveling into outer space before getting our acts together with one another.   

In 5 short hours I made 16 new friends in 16 different cities across

America. Amazing. 

The whole country is eliminating trans fat from their diets even though it seems many people don’t know much at all about trans fat. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the Indiana State Fair and learned that all of the fried food served there was sans trans fat. It’s the only State Fair in the country to make that historic move.

Here’s a list of some of the food you could buy there clean of trans fat. I saw deep fried chocolate covered strawberries (huh?), yes I did. I saw breaded and deep fried meatballs on a stick, deep fried pickles, deep fried pineapple upside down cake, deep fried oreo cookies, a whole array of your favorite deep fried candy bars, and – get this – deep fried Pepsi!

 “What?” Yup. Deep fried Pepsi.

I was told that it’s made by making elephant ear-like dough with Pepsi syrup, then marinating the dough in more Pepsi syrup, then rolling the dough into balls, then deep frying them. An order of deep fried Pepsi is 8 balls served in a cardboard “boat” with a choice of cinnamon, whipped cream or a drizzle of more Pepsi syrup.

Go figure.

I did indulge in some mammoth fried onion rings while there. They were delicious. 

In August, I gave two Omelet Shows per day at the Indiana State Fair. The Fair is a busy place, so I had good attendance at all of my programs. But before I get swell-headed about my number of fans, I have to regard where I was positioned on the performances program there.

You may think I’m making this up, but I swear that the show before mine was given by Purdue University’s Animal Sciences department. It was – live and in person – the actual spaying (sometimes neutering) of an honest-to-goodness live (though anesthetized) dog!

I’m up next. The audience is already there and after witnessing the dog surgery, many of them are sitting, unmoving, in a daze. I start my show, hoping to return them to consciousness. I’m happy to say that by my fourth or fifth omelet I’ve got their attention again. Check out the Indianapolis Star’s video of my demos here!

When I’m finished, the audience scrambles to the table filled with samples from the 15 or so omelets I cooked during my show. Apparently their stomachs have recovered from the surgery.

Up next… Roachill Downs. Real, live cockroaches racing on a miniature oval track scaled down to their size. Speaking of size, these aren’t apartment-size roaches, they’re the ones you see in Miami or San Juan. They’re about 2-inches long. Really!

And the retching in the audience begins again.