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There is no more challenging single-ingredient meal than the omelet. It’s a terrifyingly deliberate process that’s all about perfect temperature and timing, and, in front of the stove, you are naked but for your technique.

As for the filling (if you even need one), there is no wrong combo, only wrong volumes. But anything you add should be for flavor, not nutrition. Precook everything except cheese and avoid anything crunchy. (Broccoli? Who does that?)

Click here to watch Manny Howard demonstrate how to make the perfect omelet.

Ingredients
1 tbsp corn or peanut oil • 3 eggs at room temperature, beaten • salt and pepper • 1 tbsp c old butter, diced

Tools
Seasoned skillet or nons tick pan • fork • spatula

STEP ONE Beat eggs, season with salt and pepper, and, over medium-high flame, preheat seasoned skillet or nonstick pan with oil.

STEP TWO Add eggs to pan and stir until they coagulate (think very soft scrambled eggs). Tap pan on burner so eggs set in the bottom of pan (still more liquid than solid).

STEP THREE Lift pan off burner at 45- degree angle, and fold or roll edges of the egg disk toward the center, first one side, then the other, folding in thirds rather than in half.

STEP FOUR Now holding the pan, tap the base against something solid to loosen the omelet. Sprinkle the pan with chilled, diced butter, letting it melt but never brown.

STEP FIVE Holding the serving plate below and parallel, let the omelet half-somersault onto the plate, arriving seam-side down. The omelet should be yellow with no trace of caramelization.