American Masters PBS
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2019–2023
5:53 · 7.1M views · May 16, 2017
In this American Masters clip, Jacques Pepin shows two different techniques for making a perfect omelet, a dish he is famous for teaching America.
HN people call it a favorite cooking video and a model of mastery, showing two omelet styles in about five minutes.
4 comments from Hacker News
I've watched this Jacques Pépin video countless times and the ease with which he casually prepares the two styles of omelets in ~5 minutes and narrates the process amazes me every time. I still can't perfectly replicate the second "classic French omelet" style even after years of effort. this video
Thank you, such a classic. His omelet video is incredible too. Learned his French variety a few years back, took a few tries to perfect but now can open nearly any fridge and make a great meal in 2 minutes this video
I learned how to make both the French and dirty omelette from him. It's my fave cooking video of all time: this video
The pilot episode of The French Chef, Julia Child's show, in 1962 was making an omelette with butter in a steel pan. But why not use non-stick? After that original 1962 show, she uses a nonstick pan in all the other videos I've seen. I think we have a tendency to assume the hard way produces the best results, but in this case I don't think there's any reason to think so. Julia Child 1962, steel (PBS paywall): [LINK] Julia Child 1980, nonstick (she specifically says you should use a nonstick pan): [LINK] Jacques Pepin, nonstick (says nonstick is "ideal") : this video