Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

One of the first things the beginner should learn is how to shake the pan. Here is a good way to learn. Spread a newspaper on the kitchen table. Put a couple of spoonfuls of granulated sugar in the omelet pai. and place the pan on the paper. Now take hold of the pan, putting the hand under the handle, and shake vigorously. The motion must be quick and nervous, and such that the sugar in the pan will be thrown up from the bottom of the pan. It is the same motion that one uses in popping corn, being almost wholly from the wrist. A little practice is all that is needed to acquire it ; and one cannot make a perfect omelet without this motion. Persist until the sugar is thrown from the bottom of the pan with every shake. Having mastered the motion, the next thing to do is to see that the pan is all right. It must be perfectly Rolling an Omelet. smooth. If not so, scour it with Sapolio, wash in hot water, and rub it smooth and dry with a soft towel. Put the butter in the pan, and place on the fire where it will heat gradually. When quite warm, place on the hottest part of the stove. Pour the egg mixture into the pan, and shake until the whole mass is about as thick as soft custard. The egg mixture should be thrown from the bottom of the pan with every shake. Let the pan rest for about five seconds ; then place the left hand under the handle, and tip the pan forward. With a knife, roll the omelet in the same direction. Let it rest on the fire for about fifteen seconds. Take a warm dish in the left hand. Put the right hand under the handle of the omelet pan, and place the edge of the pan nearly in the centre of the dish. Turn out the omelet in the centre of the dish, and serve at once. It may take many trials before the beginner makes a success of an omelet, but the success will come. A small pan, and two eggs at a time, will do for practice. Many failures come from having too much egg in the pan. When this is the case, one part becomes hard before the other is warmed. The egg mixture should be not more than half an inch deep in The Omelet when Finished. . , ., . , the pan ; it is better to have it even less. All the work must be done very rapidly. It should be not more than two minutes How to Turn out an Omelet. from the time the eggs are poured into the hot pan until the omelet is on its way to the table. It would be better to have any guests wait for two minutes for a perfect omelet than to have the omelet done a minute before it is served, and better to send several small omelets to the table than to make only one, and have that large. Make yourself familiar with a receipt at the start, so that there will be no delay at any stage of the work or in the serving. * Plain Omelet.