Betty Lives!

The Omelette Book

Narcissa Chamberlain with Drawings by Hilary Knight

1955

Apologies to those who have been waiting for a new entry. The last week of July was bananas because I was getting ready to move the brood out to Pennsylvania for the month of August and also preparing for the arrival of the daughter of friends of mine in Paris who will be staying with us. I wanted to make something before I left so I grabbed this book with the intention of preparing something quickly. The book itself is interesting to me primarily because it contains a chapter called “Meat Omelettes”, and she really means meat here, not just the classic breakfast meats. There are recipes for omelets with sausage and ham (obvious choices) but also for omelettes with pork, kidneys, calves liver, leftover roast lamb, and chicken. From what I can tell, Chamberlain wrote one additional cookbook about the foods of France (which explains her use of the French spelling for omelet) and also some home decor books. The other point of great interest is the illustrator, Hilary Knight, who clearly had himself quite a career in cookbook design before Eloise came along and distracted him. His drawings, which grace the beginning of each chapter, are entirely characteristic of his style.

I was breezing through the meat chapter when I came to one that incorporates my beloved blood sausage, the dark knight of the sausage universe. Blood sausage is seen so rarely in this country that when I spot some I buy it no matter what and toss it in the freezer. Then I hoard it like a squirrel and wait for the perfect recipe to come along. The omelette Nancéenne, in addition to six eggs, calls for chopped parsley and one chopped, sautéed onion . These are combined with the eggs to create two flat omelets which are stuffed with sliced blood sausage that has been sautéed in butter. The omelet is garnished with two tablespoons of (more) browned butter combined with 1/2 teaspoon “meat extract” and chopped parsley. For the meat extract I used some glace de viande that I had in the fridge but otherwise I altered nothing. I served it with a green salad and a nice chilled Rosé and it was tasty, although perhaps not the highest use of a fabulous ingredient.