It’s was a whirlwind 5 days in New Zealand as I traveled the country, top to bottom, teaching the Kiwis my speedy American style of omelet making. The New Zealand egg industry invited me there to do that and it was a terrific experience.

Most New Zealanders, I learned, make their omelets by putting the eggs in a pan with the filling ingredients on top, then they just let it sit over a low fire until it all sets up into a big egg pancake. The eggs get so tough that it’s like eating leather. Boy, did they need me!

I started in Auckland, the capital city on the north island. In Auckland I went on the country’s television food channel teaching my 40-second technique on a program hosted by a popular — and very pretty — chef. We cooked various omelets side by side and I finished the segment with my flaming fruit omelet, which stole the show. Also, I went to the offices of Essentially Food magazine, the most popular culinary publication there, and gave my demonstration to the staff. They’re doing a feature on me and my omelets, quoting my answers to egg questions posed by the magazine’s editor-in-chief. After the demonstration I invited staff members to have their hand at this “new” technique and the result was wonderful. While there I also did segments on two radio programs where I cooked omelets on the air.

Moving south, my next stop was Christchurch. I went to a culinary school and gave my omelet show to students and chef instructors while the local television station covered the event really extensively. They filmed my entire program! I wonder how much of it ended up on the air. The local newspaper food editor also showed up with a photographer and I’m waiting to see a clipping of what she writes.

Moving further south… down to the bottom of the southern island — next stop Antarctica! — Dunedin reminded me very much of my visit to Scotland last year, with rolling green hills filled with flocks of sheep and a very chilly temperature. There I prepared omelets for lunch for folks who came to the local homeless shelter. That event was covered by the local newspaper and the local tv station. I also cooked omelets on the radio there.

I’m on my way to Australia now to cook omelets there. Stay tuned.

…and was it ever lavish. It was at Brasserie 8-1/2, a popular, trendy white tablecloth New York restaurant where the Sunday Brunch doesn’t skimp at all on the buffet offerings or service despite its gentle $29 cost. Sure there was what you’d expect at a fine Sunday brunch: trays of warm crispy bacon and delicious sausages, iced shrimp, smoked salmon with all the fixin’s, all sorts of delicious fresh breads and rolls, eggs scrambled, made-to-order and eggs Benedict. In addition, there was a station where a chef made either sweet or savory crepes to order, something I’d never seen on a buffet before. There was also an enormous array of elegant desserts placed tray-to-tray that filled a bar along the wall that must have stretched 30-feet or more. And, there was me at the omelet station.

My being there – the Guinness World Records “World’s Fastest Omelet Maker” – was promoted locally by the restaurant’s public relations people so I knew that some guests who saw the promotion and came to the brunch expected to see some sort of omelet show. While I didn’t perform specifically for their entertainment, I did – uh – dazzle them by turning-out their made-to-order omelets fast, most in well under a minute. That seemed to be entertaining enough because they all commented on my surprising speed when I handed them their finished omelet. Also, many of my magazine food editor friends showed up with their spouses or other family.

The omelet fillings I used were fairly traditional except for caramelized onions that the restaurant included in their fillings assortment. Oh, how terrific caramelized onions are with just about anything. The cheeses, the veggies and the meats in the omelets paled against the sweetness and flavor of the onions. If only making caramelized onions wasn’t so labor intensive I’d include them in everything I cook.

I was surprised at how many people are still thinking that dietary cholesterol translates into blood cholesterol so they insist on an omelet made with just egg whites. “Gotta’ watch that cholesterol,” they’d say to me with a knowing smile as I slather the pan with butter and their egg white omelet with cheese, then turn the omelet onto their plate full of bacon and buttered muffin. At first I thought I’d ask them why they hadn’t been paying attention to news that vindicated eggs, then educate them with the present dietary thinking. But I didn’t because it was Sunday Brunch time and everyone’s spirits were high. No one was in the mood for an education.

In addition to the restaurant’s guests, some who returned for another omelet (“a one-egger” they’d say), I met many new people that Sunday morning. Guests would chat with me while I sped through their omelets, telling me where in the world they’re visiting from, locals telling me where they live in New York and children asking me to flip their eggs in the air since my publicity mentioned my omelet flipping record. Meanwhile, I made friends with the wonderful restaurant staff and the terrific chef and his team in the kitchen. I made well over a hundred omelets that day and, more importantly, made well over a hundred new friends.

…serves omelets that are legendary. At least that’s their claim, and no doubt they are. Beth’s Café omelets come in two sizes, 6 or 12 eggs! Not only that, but all omelets come with all-you-can-eat hash browns. No, this is not an April Fool’s Day joke!

A friend of mine told me about this establishment which, according to the website, is over 50 years old. The omelets are available with a choice of ham, bacon, sausage or chili fillings at $1.50 each. Another $1.00 each buys you your choice of 10 more additional fillings, all of those being the customary items that marry so well with eggs.

Any or all of the omelet fillings can also be added to your all-you-can-eat mound of hashbrowns. Doesn’t that sound awesome! (It reminds me of the Waffle House chain of restaurants where you can add onions, ham, and/or cheese to the hashbrowns and anyone – including me – can attest that that’s sooo deeelicious, especially when the yolks of your over-easy eggs spill into them.)

I asked my Seattle friend, Dee Munson, if she’d ever been to Beth’s. Here’s what she wrote back:
For many years the Washington Egg Commission did a “Best Breakfast in Seattle” promotion with one of the big radio stations. Beth’s Cafe was a winner, sometime back in the 90’s, which testifies to its popularity. The listeners voted (to the station) for their favorite restaurant and Beth’s was a walkaway winner that year. Real food, real people and real filling! The omelets are HUGE, starting at 6 eggs. And, even back in the ‘90s, nobody eating there ever had concerns about cholesterol. And the cafe’s popularity continues, even here in lean and green Seattle where excess is lauded only in wealth and fitness!

The Beth’s Café website also shows traditional breakfasts and mini breakfasts on the menu, all of which sound, well, traditional. But the omelets… they sound outstanding. Being the omelet maven that I am, I’m going to have to see if I can get the American Egg Board to send me on a visit to Seattle to visit Dee and see how Beth does it. Here’s a picture of the 12-egg omelet in all of its glory, courtesy of Picasa:

When it’s a “pancake” omelet, that’s when. That’s what they call their pastrami and/or corned beef omelet at the Carnegie Deli in New York. If you don’t know, Carnegie Deli is New York City’s premiere deli, which is saying a lot considering the city has a deli on almost every block. I went there for breakfast with Debbie Goldsmith, the Associate Director of Food from Good Housekeeping magazine. Naturally, we talked omelets. We observed that there seems to be a fine line between an omelet, a frittata and the kind of “pancake” omelet we enjoyed that morning. Here’s what we came up with:

A “French Omelet” is a kind of egg pancake into which filling is put (and what most people might consider a standard omelet). The filling is separate from the egg and that’s what makes it French style. The egg is rolled or folded over the filling and flipped onto a plate. Voila!

A “Denver/Western Omelet” – America’s favorite – is where the filling is put into the frying pan and flash-fried first. Then the egg is added and a pancake made from that egg which now has the filling ingredients imbedded in it. Because you can’t fry cheese, the cheese is added just before the omelet is rolled or folded and flipped onto a plate. Sometimes I call this a “confetti omelet” because the colorful ingredient that are imbedded in the egg show through.  

A Carnegie Deli “Pancake Omelet” is made just like a Denver/Western omelet, but before it’s served, it’s flipped over upside down and cooked a little more. The omelet is served by sliding it out of the pan onto the plate with its bottom side up. It’s round. Like a pancake.

A frittata – if we’re not mistaken – is made like a French style omelet, with the egg cooked to a point where it’s very moist on top. The filling is then sprinkled all over the top of the moist egg pancake and finished-off under the broiler so it’s somewhat crisp on top.

One last thought based on my trip to Carnegie Deli… when I make what I call an Omelet Lorraine, a French style omelet with white wine added to the egg and filled with Gruyere cheese and bacon, I always serve it with a dollop of Dijon mustard. Apparently I am not alone. When we were served our pastrami and corned beef pancake omelets at the Carnegie Deli, they were served with a deli brown mustard. Mustard? With an omelet? I guess that depends on what’s inside the omelet. In the Midwest where I grew up, most of the folks I knew put ketchup on their omelets. Here in New York City…never! But mustard’s okay. Go figure!

It’s National Egg Month, a perfect time to share easy (and affordable!) egg recipes. Here is a video demonstration of how to make an Asian-inspired frittata using everyone’s favorite penny-pinching food (other than eggs, of course), Ramen Noodles! Maybe I should have saved this one for World Egg Day, which is October 10. I’ll cover more internationally-inspired egg dishes then. Enjoy!

Last month I went to Montgomery, Alabama to cook my omelets. At suppertime my hosts asked me if I wanted to go to a real Southern fish fry buffet in Millbrook, a suburb of Montgomery about 15-minutes from midtown. Wow! I wouldn’t miss it. But I had no idea whatsoever what I was going to be subjecting my arteries to.

To start, we enjoyed the best seafood gumbo any of us – we agreed – had ever had. One of the group mentioned that the gumbo base was tomato and not authentic roux, but I think she was just showing off. I later regretted having gone back for gumbo refills. It affected the quantity of the rest of the seafood buffet selections I would consume.

I had, for the first time, something called West Indies Salad. It was crabmeat that was marinated overnight (at least) with vinegar, sugar and a ton of Vidalia onion slices. I thought it would make a terrific omelet filling. Unlike almost everything else, it wasn’t fried. Neither were cooked-to-death green beans or cole slaw. Or a delicious shrimp creole. But the rest of the menu was right from the oil:

Fried shrimp

Fried oysters

Fried chicken

Fried catfish

Fried flounder

Fried hushpuppies

Fried Surimi

Fried okra

Fried dill pickle slices (!)

French fries

Fried stuffed crab

To be sure, it was a totally “Pigout Heaven” meal. I couldn’t move when the rest of the group got up to get dessert. So they brought it to me…vanilla wafer cookies smothered under spoonfuls of soupy chocolate pudding. Just when I thought I couldn’t consume another thing, I found that I could not pass up this weird dessert concoction.

My rationale for eating all of the stuff with abandon was that it’s a once-a-year meal. I can’t wait till next year.

Last week I had a whole week in New York. No place to travel to. So, I was able to catch-up on visits with my magazine food editor friends. And I had a good reason to take up their time. I’m busy helping the American Egg Board with its “Search for America’s Worst Cook)” contest – we’re on a quest for a kitchen klutz (I’m calling them “culinarily handicapped”) who could really use some help getting their mealtime act together.

Go to www.AmericasWorstCook.com and get the information for yourself, or, you can enter someone you know who needs some culinary help. The prize is super. The winner will be featured in an American Egg Board advertisement, plus win a trip with a guest to New York for a “culinary makeover,” including cooking school classes and, if they want, dinner with me!

So last week I visited the test kitchens of Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, All You, Martha Stewart Everyday Food and Everyday with Rachael Ray magazines. Not a bad gig because along the way I sample whatever’s cookin’ in the kitchen. Also, we catch up on industry gossip. And I’ve got appointments with Food & Wine, Quick & Simple and Real Simple magazines coming up. Real Simple has a new food editor and I look forward to wishing her well. She comes from Everyday Food.

I also hyped the Worst Cook contest with Babs Chernitz, the food editor of Redbook magazine, but that was over a lunch table at a brand new restaurant that opened this week directly across the street from my 55^th Street apartment. Tres chic. The restaurant is called Benoit (pronounced Ben-wah) and was opened by celebrity chef Alain Ducasse, France’s multi-star winning export to New York. Even though the name and the white table ambiance is very elegant, the prices are surprisingly low for such a haute pedigree.

Babs and I ate well for eighty bucks. There were many service hiccups and some communication problems with the staff, but we enjoyed ourselves and the meal a lot. Besides, I’d rather eat French food than any other kind (I know, Italian rules, but not with me).

Babs and I gave a tip o’ the hat to the American Egg Board by both ordering an egg appetizer. It’s listed on the menu as “Egg Mayonnaise” and that’s precisely what it is. A perfectly hard cooked egg cut in half, one half filled with the yolk mixed with awesomely rich home made mayonnaise deviled egg style, the other half simply presented yolk side down in a puddle of that same awesomely rich home made mayonnaise. Incredible! And only one dollar. A buck. Sooo worth it.

The “Egg Mayonnaise” called attention to how fabulous home made mayo is versus the stuff in a jar. The American Egg Board has this recipe for “cooked” mayonnaise (so you don’t run into any food safety issues). This recipe is not only safe, it, too, is incredible!

COOKED MAYONNAISE – makes about 1-1/4 cups

• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Dash pepper
• 1 cup cooking oil

In a small saucepan, stir together egg yolks, vinegar, water, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper until throughly blended.

Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture bubbles in 1 or 2 places. Remove from heat.

Let stand for 4 minutes. Pour into blender container. Cover and blend at high speed.

While blending, very slowly add oil. Blend until thick and smooth.

Occasionally, turn off blender and scrape down sides of container with a rubber spatula.

Cover and chill.

Her name is Jackie Plant and she arrived at Woman’s Day a few weeks ago to take the helm of the food pages there. Jackie was the food editor of Parents magazine before going to Woman’s Day and that gives her a good background for a change in direction for the magazine that was the first magazine ever distributed solely in grocery stores back in the 1930’s. Jackie plans to put more of a family spin on the food pages of the publication.

We celebrated Jackie’s new position with her test kitchen and editorial staff at a restaurant called Bar Americain, the midtown Manhattan home for Food Network chef Bobby Flay. The food was wonderful and Jackie, in my honor, ordered an appetizer of poached egg on Boston lettuce where the yolk that spilled over the lettuce served as the dressing for the salad. We ate a whole gamut of dishes from steak tartare where the raw beef was cubed instead of ground, red snapper tacos, shrimp n’ grits and a whole array of cold seafood samplers.

More important was what we talked about. Eggs. When the conversation turned to the rising cost of food, we decided that even though egg costs are up, they still remain the cheapest high quality protein the magazine readers can get. But, that wasn’t the best part of eating eggs. It was unanimous that eggs have got to be the single most versatile food you can buy. To that end, Jackie and her staff said they’d look into that versatility as the subject for a feature in Woman’s Day, probably after the December (Christmas) issue goes to press. It was interesting to learn that the staff is presently working on the October issue. They told me that holidays have no meaning to them anymore. When it’s Easter on the calendar, it’s July 4th to them. And when it’s Labor Day they’re celebrating New Years. Weird.

I wanted to let everyone know that the American Egg Board’s “Search for America’s Worst Cook” contest is launching its second year tomorrow! And it’s even bigger and better than last year’s contest.

If you are… kitchen-challenged… or know someone who is… enter the contest at www.AmericasWorstCook.com. There are also how-to videos, tips and recipes from yours truly on there.

And did I tell you that I am now a rapper? Crazy but true! I teamed up with YouTube “star” Remy to create this video about being the worst cook: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zvFR1cEl7mo

Even better, you can put yourself… or the worst cook you know… into a video with me and Remy! Just got to www.AmericasWorstCook.com and click on “Star In A Video.”
Do tell me how you like it all. And do enter yourself, or someone you know, in the contest! The winner will be featured in an American Egg Board ad and win a trip for two to New York City for a culinary makeover… and, if they’d like, dinner with me!

Click on the TV icon below to watch a short video where I show you a great short-cut for making poached eggs. Try it at home and let me know how it goes!