The Morel of the Story

There is a concept in psychology called cognitive dissonance. It’s where you try and keep two conflicting thoughts in your head at the same time. Tonight I practiced Recipe Dissonance. I decided that I would make two different Morel Omelette recipes, one by Mitch Omer from his Damn Good Food cookbook and the other by Mitch Omer in the Saveur Authentic American cookbook. They are similar, but not the same.

It was possibly not the best idea I have ever had. Of course six months into this project I have no shortage of bad ideas.  I have tried to make omelettes before, but it doesn’t usually go very well. They taste good, but they are not pretty. My omelettes usually turn out looking like ugly scrambled eggs and at that point they can only generously be called omelettes.  This has always been a meal that Kira has made in our household. Probably because it requires a combination of patience and finesse that I find hard to channel. So on top of making a meal that I have always found difficult I decided to make it two different ways. Brilliant.

There are a lot of little differences in the recipes, but the biggest one is that the Authentic American recipe does not use any cheese. This works out well for Melanie because she is not a fan of cheese. I made this one for her and make her promise to leave me a bite. This version of the recipe ends by putting the omelette in the oven to finish cooking which plumps it up quite nicely. It worked pretty slick and I have to say I am inclined to cook them this way in the future.

The Jacques Pepin version of this recipe uses Gruyere cheese which held things together nicely and Kira and I agreed gave the omelette more flavor. You see how differently they turned out.

Authentic American Morel Omelette

Morel Omlet a la Jacques Pepin

 

They were both delicious, but not as flavorful as the last few morel recipes we’ve had. That may be because I tried to stretch them too thin. I probably only bought enough morels for two omelettes, but I used them in three. Max and Sarah opted for no mushrooms – they must take after their grandfather.

Final count is that I made three of the Jacques Pepin recipe and two of the no cheese Authentic American recipe. A total of five omelettes tonight and four of them turned out nicely.I was pretty stressed while I was making them but I am pretty pleased with that statistic. Going from one omelette to the next I was a pretty comical site moving from one omelette to the next juggling three skillets and several bowls on the counter for egg, mushrooms, cheese, etc. I like to be methodical and this is the kind of recipe you have to have down cold so you can just churn them out. I think if I make about 9995 more omelettes I should have it down.

There are no more morel recipes that we will be trying this year, but we are looking forward to morel season next year already.

Recipe #109: Morel Omelet a la Jacques Pepin

Recipe #109B: Authentic american Morel Omelette

Damn Good Food Quote of the Day: In adulthood, no matter how wild or fractious the rest  of his life, Mitch continued the annual rite of morel hunting, …