Or a “rolled omelette”, which is said a lot in Andalusia.
And that comes to be the same: One, two or, for those who have more appetite, three wisked eggs in a frying pan and, once they are cooked, rolled up.
There are people who add cheese, tomato, spinach … the sky is the limit ! but the classic is only eggs. Nothing else.
And why is called “French-style”? to understand this name you must travel to Cádiz two centuries ago, exactly to Spanish independence War. Cádiz, the only point in Spanish geography that the Napoleonic troops could not invade, was surrounded by the French (We were the Asterix and Obelix of Spain).
The Cádiz population began to have problems obtaining food, since the crops fields were where the gabachos (french) had camped. Food began to be limited (although we must thank the English who, coming by sea, helped the Cadiz population and supplied the city) but they still had chickens within the city.
It is well known that omelettes in Spain are made with potatoes, because with few cheap ingredients, a family could eat. You can imagine that the potato fields, among other vegetables, were on the outskirts of the city. Exactly, where the Napoleonic army was located to disturb us.
And of course, you can also imagine the annoyance that Cádiz population had for the French and everything derived from France … when in Cádiz had to start cooking only the eggs, they wisked them with a little salt, poured a little oil in the pan and rolled the omelette when it was cooked. A very scarce and bland dish if we compare it with the gastronomic abundance before the French arrived.
And from the sum of the French presence, guilty of the food shortage, together with Cadiz’s aversion to everything related to France, the ironic expression of “French omelette” arose.
The one that, today, is only popular in Spain. But, after 200 years, it continues to be used throughout the peninsula and its islands.
Which one do you like the most?
