The next great question is, how much butter should be allowed for, say, six eggs?  On this point the greatest authorities differ.  We will first quote our authorities, and then attempt to give an explanation that reconciles the difference.  A plain omelet may be roughly described as settings of eggs well beaten up by stirring them up in hot butter.  One of the oldest cookery books we can call to mind is entitled “The Experienced English Housekeeper,” by Elizabeth Raffald.  The book, which was published in 1775, is dedicated to the Hon. Lady Elizabeth Warburton, whom the authoress formerly served. as housekeeper.  The recipe is entitled “To make an amulet.”  The book states, “Put a quarter of a pound of butter into a frying-pan, break six eggs”; Francatelli also gives four ounces of butter to six eggs.

On the other hand, Soyer, the great cook, gives two ounces of butter to six eggs; so also does the equally great Louis Eustache Ude, cook to Louis XVI.

We may add that “Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery” recommended two ounces of butter to six eggs, whilst “Cassell’s Shilling Cookery” recommends four eggs.

The probable reason why two such undoubtedly great authorities as Soyer and Francatelli should differ is that in making one kind of omelet you would use less butter than in making another.  Francatelli wrote for what may be described as that “high class cooking suited for Pall Mall clubs,” where no one better than himself knew how best to raise the jaded appetite of a wealthy epicure.  Soyer’s book was written for the people.

There are two kinds of omelets, one in which the egg is scarcely beaten at all, and in which, when cooked, the egg appears set in long streaks.  There is also the richer omelet, which is sent to table more resembling a light pudding.  For the former of these omelets, two ounces of butter will suffice for six eggs; for the latter of these you will require four ounces of butter, or else the omelet will be leathery.  In Holland, Belgium, and Germany, and in country villages in France, the omelet is made, as a rule, with six eggs to two ounces of butter.  It comes up like eggs that have been set.  In the higher-class restaurants in Paris, like Bignon’s, or the Cafe Anglais, the omelet is lighter, and probably about four ounces of butter would be used to six eggs.

This probably explains the different directions given in various cookery books for making omelets.

OMELET, PLAIN.—­Melt four ounces of butter in a frying-pan, heat up six eggs till they froth; add a little pepper and salt, pour the beaten-up eggs into the frying-pan as soon as the butter begins to frizzle, and with a tablespoon keep scraping the bottom of the frying-pan in every part, not forgetting the edge.  Gradually the mixture becomes lumpy; still go on scraping till about two-thirds or more are lumpy and the rest liquid.  Now slacken the heat slightly by lifting the frying-pan from the fire, and push the omelet into half the frying-pan so that it is in the shape of a semicircle.  By this time, probably, it will be nearly set.  Take the frying-pan off the fire, and hold it in a slanting direction in front of the fire.  When the whole is set, as it will quickly do, slide off the omelet from the frying-pan on to a hot dish with an egg-slice, and serve.