Gourmet Guide - a la carte
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1.
Save the planet – eat more kangaroo!
Scientific research really is amazing! Latest reports announced ...read more
2.
Mad about chocolate
It can be white, brown or black, it melts in the mouth ...read more
3.
A juicy proposition: Apple delights
There’s something wonderfully familiar and comforting about apples ...read more
4.
Lisbon – City of Many Faces
Wallpaper, the British cult magazine, recently included Lisbon ...read more
5.
Culinary Vienna
The Viennese simply don’t like being hungry. They love “their” cuisine ...read more
6.
Omelette
Probably the easiest egg dish in the world ...read more
7.
Marseille – beyond Africa
France’s second city is a multicultural mix of Provence and Africa ...read more
8.
The marvel of Thai cuisine
Thai cooking is marvelled at as one of the most diverse in the world ...read more
9.
Fragrances of 1001 nights
Oriental cuisine is among the most sophisticated and richly aromatic ...read more
10.
Salad galore!
Dedicated cooks compose dishes like poems. The same is true to no lesser degree ...read more
11.
A flower for dessert
Flowers as a table decoration come as no surprise ...read more
12.
Pasta per tutti!
Pasta for everyone: made from water or eggs and diverse kinds of flour ...read more
13.
Desserts – the sweet finale
Dessert is considered the pièce de résistance of any bill of fare ...read more
14.
Main thing starters
Whatever your sensual pleasure, anticipation always plays an important role ...read more
15.
Tutti frutti – fruit passion
Ever since Eve tasted the forbidden fruit from the tree ...read more
16.
Tomatoes – heavyweights of healthiness
Tomatoes are among the most popular vegetables in the world. These red, yellow ...read more
17.
Hot stuff!
Why do some people like their food spicy – so spicy that it brings tears ...read more
18.
Condiments – a certain something
They are the final touch: sauces, pesto and chutneys ...read more

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COOKING STORY
Asparagus omelette with Parmesan cheese
Omelette
Probably the easiest egg dish in the world is still a challenge even for professional cooks. The variations of this extremely inexpensive dish are just as numerous as the tips for ensuring perfect success.


The perfect omelette should be light as air, cooked evenly inside, still moist, lightly browned and be a golden yellow colour. To accomplish this some cooks use a shot of mineral water or beer while others beat the yolks and egg whites separately with a whisk. Be that as it may, the word omelette comes from the Old French amelette, meaning something like “thin plate”. And even if the methods of preparation vary, strictly speaking omelettes are made of (at least three) eggs with no flour – because a scrambled egg with flour becomes a pancake, as most Germans know from hard-working Liese in Wilhelm Busch’s popular poem, Pfannkuchen und Salat (“Pancakes and Salad”):

“Three eggs, fresh and without blemish,
And milk and a spoonful of flour,
These she whisks up industriously together
Into an intimate union.”

Although the term “omelette” first appeared in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Romans were already acquainted with how to prepare the “thin plate”. Whether flat, as originally, or rolled up, folded or flapped, the omelette virtually begged to be filled, topped or to be improved in any other way. The recipe of French cooking artist, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (with carp roe and fish cakes) and the biscuit omelette from the once famous Hotel Stephanie in Baden-Baden (with fruit or compote and spread with apricot jam) became famous.

It seems that everything that can be eaten has already found its way onto or into an omelette: wafer-thin truffle slices and mussels, chicken liver as well as thin slices of sweetbread, anchovies and asparagus spears, onions, herbs and minced meat for those who like it savoury. And jams, jellies, compotes, sauces, fruit and sugar for the fastidious palate.