Calphalon 10-inch Pan & The King of the Omelet

Sometimes things just work out. Not often — but when they do it’s wonderful.

I had just returned from the National Chicken Cooking contest in San Antonio where the American Egg Board’s spokesman Howard Helmer did what he did best — made omelets. And what did I find at my doorstep but a 10-inch Caphalon Unison omelet pan awaiting testing.

Serendipity!

Howard, also known as the incredible egg man, is more passionate about the egg than most people are about life. He’s like a wind-up doll, who once he starts  talking  eggs, there’s no stopping him.

It’s easy to make omelets, says Howard. For each one use “two eggs, 2 tablespoons water, salt and pepper. Water makes the batter lighter, so it moves around the pan more easily.”  Save the milk for scrambled eggs.

Use a 10-inch pan over high heat, add 1 pat butter and scoop a soup-ladle full of your egg mixture into the pan. “A soup ladle it holds exactly 2 eggs & 2 tablespoons water. All ladles do!” he explains as he stands in front of the group swirling the eggs in the hot pan.

The edges will cook immediately. Once they do, then pull the eggs back, making a hole and tilt the pan to fill it up.

10-inch Calphalon Non-Stick Omelet Pan

“Make a hole, fill it up,” chanted Howard and he turned out omelet after omelet to illustrate how easy it is.  “Always keep the bottom of the pan covered with eggs.” In 20 seconds you’ll have eggs ready for filling and turning out onto a plate.

With his moves, I’d say Howard is the Michael Jackson of omelet making. Seriously. This man  puts his eggs where his mouth is, holding a number  Guinness World Records — omelet ones that is. Specifically, Howard’s records include:

1. World’s fastest omelet maker — having made 427 omelets in 30 minutes
2. Worlds fastest omelet flipper — having flipped an omelet 34 times in 31 seconds before the omelet totally  fell apart and the Guinness judges made him stop
3. Worlds fastest single omelet – 31 seconds from cracking the eggs to the plate.

According to Howard, the last two records were set in 2007 on TV in London with Guinness judges looking on.

So after listening to Howard, the first thing I was in the mood to cook when I got home was a “make a hole, fill it up” omelet. I’ve, of course, made many an omelet before, but I wanted to do it Howard style. And there awaiting testing — as I mentioned — was the Calphalon 10-inch non-stick pan ($50), with a nonstick surface that, according to press materials, “releases food effortlessly” and is dishwasher safe. Perfection.

(Calphalon also has another surface, called Sear Nonstick, that’s is specially textured to first seal in flavor so “you can create juicy braised beef, tuna and vegetables”. I still need to test that one.)

So, I beat two eggs with 2 tablespoons of water, seasoned that to my liking with salt and pepper and waited for the butter to melt in the new omelet pan. As I added the eggs to the pan, I thought I could hear Howard chanting, “Make a hole, fill it up..make a hole, fill it up.” I did just that in my new pan, and slid a perfect omelet out onto my plate.