If you believe that food is a love language – and if you don't, I'm not sure I want to know you – then you'll recognize the "Omelette" episode of "The Bear" as an off-season valentine to culinary nurturers. The title, which uses the French spelling of the dish, hooks to a scene midway through the episode's 39 minutes when Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) makes an omelet for Natalie (Abby Elliott).
As is true of every part of this show, the details involved in this exchange matter. With the restaurant due to open in a couple of hours, everyone is exhausted and anxious. Offscreen the call goes out that the family meal is ready but Nat, always the project manager, is chained to her desk. She looks ashen. "I just haven't eaten," she explains when Syd asks if she's OK.
An equally busy Sydney responds without a second thought. "Let me make you something," she insists. Natalie asks for an omelet.
To viewers, this request yields a chance to luxuriate in Sydney's calm, assured effort as she whisks a trio of eggs in a sieve set over a bowl, then fires up a burner and throws a few generous tablespoons of butter into a pan.
Ayo Edebiri as Sydney Adamu and Abby Elliot as Natalie "Sugar" Berzatto in "The Bear" (Chuck Hodes/FX)
Series creator Christopher Storer's direction ensures that every sensory pleasure comes through – the sizzle of a solid melting into oil, the shooshing of Sydney's stir, the chives crunching as her knife chops through a bundle. Circumstances lead us to infer that Sydney is surrounded by hustling teammates but where she's cooking is an oasis of quiet.
She plates the omelet, rubs a pat of butter across the top, and finishes it with the chopped chives and – here's the fun part – sour cream and onion potato chips crumbled over the top along with a few grinds of fresh pepper.
She takes it to Natalie along with what looks like a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice combined with beet juice. And when Nat digs in for her first bite, she delivers her compliments to the chef by saying, "I could cry."
Situating Sydney's cooking scene at the heart of "Omelette" emphasizes the second season's throughlines about service and focus. Ten minutes later, as she and her business partner Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) are fixing a table together, she tells him that making that omelet for Nat was "the best part of my day."
"You love taking care of people," he says with understanding. Professional chefs do what they do for many reasons but a common thread is a desire to nourish and satisfy through their cooking. "The Bear" performs a similar version of caretaking for its viewers with this sequence. Taking the simplest of ingredients – three eggs, some butter and a garnish you can score at your local convenience store in its most basic version – can yield something wonderful enough for the person who eats it to hail your genius.
Everything looks more effortless to pull off on TV than it is in reality. If you've made omelets before, you know that as easy as they are to make, they're a challenge to master. The same can be said of just about any egg preparation: Carrie Bradshaw tries and fails to poach eggs in the second season of "And Just Like That" as part of what she thinks will be an easy entry into learning how to cook, only to fail and fail and fail again.
On the series premiere of "Julia," Sarah Lancashire's Julia Child whips up an omelet on a TV show using a hot plate in a matter of minutes, but the actual "The French Chef" episode devoted to omelets takes half an hour for the real Child to explain the techniques and tools required to make one correctly.
"The Bear" has culinary producer Courtney Storer, the creator's sibling, coaching its cast to ensure their methods looks as flawless as the food they're preparing (or pretending to prepare) tastes. But there's no faking Sydney's tour de main.
Want more great food writing and recipes? Subscribe to Salon Food's newsletter, The Bite.
First, note that Sydney uses a fork to beat the eggs, not a whisk. This yields a fluffier texture. Using a sieve strains out the stringier part of the albumen to ensure consistency. She shakes the pan to coat the bottom while using a spatula to loosen the edges, throwing in more butter as necessary to ensure it doesn't get stuck.
Edebiri's performance in this sequence deserves a standing ovation: her omelet looks tender and creamy inside before she pipes a spine of Boursin cheese into its center. Its exterior is a delicate yellow that shows off the chives' springtime green.
Then comes the potato chip finish, an inspired off-the-grocery-shelf detail that nods at the restaurant's previous incarnation as a sandwich shop, and the kind of edible flourish home chefs can pull off without going broke.
Jeremy Allen White as Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto in "The Bear" (Chuck Hodes/FX)
Moreover, she makes preparing an omelet look meditative, conveying that its perfect execution is a product of full focus. That is the single ingredient lacking in her partnership with Carmy, which he admits during their under-the-table heart-to-heart. "You deserve my full focus. My attention shouldn't be split."
It isn't too much to ask when it comes to showing someone that you care, or when whisking a few good eggs into what could become the best part of your day. And if they don't turn out as intended, don't worry. Eggs are relatively inexpensive again, so practice as many times as necessary to get it right.
Omelet inspired by Sydney's on "The Bear"
Ingredients
3 eggs
A stick of butter (Julia Child believed a great omelet requires a great amount of butter)
3 to 5 tablespoons of Boursin cheese (I used the garlic and fine herbs variety)
Chives, to taste
A handful of sour cream and onion flavored potato chips, preferably with ridges
Whole black peppercorns in a grinder
A fork
A spatula
Directions
- Prepare your mise en place: finely chop your chives, have your potato chips at the ready and have your Boursin ready to go. If you choose to use Sydney's method, place a little more cheese than you'll need into a pastry bag fitted with large size plain style tip.
- Crack three eggs into a sieve or hand-held wire mesh strainer set over a bowl. Using a fork, beat the eggs until the mixture has mostly strained through the mesh, leaving behind the stringy parts of the egg white.
- Place your omelet pan over medium-low heat and melt at least three tablespoons of butter on the surface, swirling the pat to coat the bottom of the pan.
- Pour your eggs into the pan, gently shaking it back and forth across the heat source as they set. If the eggs setting too quickly, lift the pan away from the heat. Using the spatula, spread the excess eggs to the edges and ensure they aren't sticking. If they are, throw in some extra butter.
- Turn off the heat to prevent overcooking and allow the eggs to set.
- While the center is still creamy, add the Boursin. Place the cheese in a line off center so that when you unmold the omelet the filling lands toward the middle.
- Use your spatula to create a V-shape by folding in the borders on the side opposite the cheese, then roll the V toward the center.
- Unmold, or slide, the omelet onto a plate. It's up to you whether to fold it like a half-moon or a burrito shape.
- Gently rub a pat of butter over the surface of the omelet. Then, sprinkle on your chives. After that, crumble your potato chips in your hands and sprinkle them over the top. Grind a bit of pepper over the top of that.
- Take a bite. Cry happily.
Read more
about TV and food
Shares