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An omelette is a four-minute meal at any hour and one of the most useful things to be able to make without thinking. It is also the first hot dish a lot of children learn to cook.
Pan size decides everything
Three eggs want a 20cm (8 inch) pan. Use a bigger one and the egg spreads too thin, sets instantly and goes leathery before you can fold it. Use a much smaller one and the middle stays raw while the base browns.
If you only have a large pan, use more eggs rather than fighting it.
Stir, then stop
The technique in one line. For the first thirty seconds, stir gently and pull the setting egg in from the edges, letting raw egg run into the gaps. Then stop completely and let it set undisturbed for another minute.
Stirring the whole time gives you scrambled egg. Never stirring gives you a thick, unevenly cooked disc. The pause is the omelette.
Cheese on one half only
Scatter it over half the omelette, not the middle. It melts in the residual heat while the omelette finishes, and folding the bare half over traps it neatly. Cheese in the centre squeezes out of both sides when you fold.
Take it out slightly underdone
Like scrambled eggs, it carries on cooking after it leaves the pan. Slide it out while the surface still looks barely set and glossy.
For young children, pregnant women and anyone immunocompromised, cook it through until firm — follow NHS or USDA guidance rather than ours.
For a toddler
Cut into strips rather than wedges: easier to hold and easier to manage. It is a good source of protein in a form most small children accept, and it takes less time than deciding what else to make.
