Example: Apricot Omelet

Omelette aux Abricots (apricot omelet) teaches one clean lesson: an omelette can become dessert without ceasing to be an omelette. Keep the eggs tender, place a measured spoonful of preserve at the center, then glaze the sugar fast enough that the surface bronzes before the middle tightens. Know this before touching the pan: the omelette must leave it slightly softer than you intend to eat it, because the broiler finishes the cooking.

The book's formula assumed six eggs, two tablespoons of apricot jam, a long fireproof dish, and either a red-hot iron or a salamander waiting above the range. Here the egg and jam quantities are halved without disturbing their ratio: three eggs and one tablespoon of jam make dessert for two, manageable in a 20 cm skillet. The red-hot iron can go; it was brigade scaffolding. A fierce home broiler supplies the same swift overhead heat. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Folding the supple eggs around the jam and glazing the icing sugar quickly are the dish, and both must stay. Have the platter, sugar, and loosened jam waiting before the eggs meet the butter. Once the pan is hot, everything happens in minutes.