How to Feed a Crowd in a Hurry

After seeing Julie and Julia in September, Tom reserved a video series from the library of Julia Child's cooking show. It was so popular that he didn't get it for two months. We just watched her Omelette episode filmed in 1972 and got a few good tips.

I'm certainly glad Julia hasn't had one of my omelettes. She would probably call it "rubbery" because mine spend too much time in the pan. Julia heats the burner to the highest heat, melts butter in the pan and just as it stops bubbling and before it turns brown she ladles in two or three eggs which she has prepared in advance. Then she begins to move the pan around on the burner, which loosens the egg from the edges and bottom of the pan. Next she pulls the pan toward her, back and forth, and the egg begins to fold onto itself with each movement. She grabs a plate in one hand and the pan in the other and turns it over onto the plate, straigthens the omlette with a fork if necessary, and sprinkles parsley over it (which "will cover up anything that has spilled"). Her omlette is complete in just 20 seconds.

The cameras move to the dining room and there we see it set and ready for an Omlette Party. She has several fillings prepared and shows how simple it is to move from one omlette to another, preparing them to order. As she is working, narrating what her imaginary guests have requested for filling their omlettes, she reveals her plan for feeding a crowd in a hurry.

Since it takes 20 seconds to cook an omlette, you can prepare three in one minute. Now if you have five people making omlettes at once, you can prepare 15 in one minute. In just 20 minutes you can make 300 omlettes. "So how's that for a last minute supper party for 300 people, served in just 20 minutes!"

So the next time 300 of your closest friends drop by for supper, you have no excuse. Grab you omlette pans and get to work!