Upper Normandy Omelettes
Upper Normandy Omelettes include two French recipes of Omelette. The first one refers to the Mère Poulard omelette, commonly appreciated food in restaurants around the French Mont Saint Michel. The second Norman-style Omelette, called A la Normande (Norman-style) is a rich, sweet dessert typical of family meals and gastronomy in this Northwest region of France.
Mère Poulard's Omelette
Since 1879, the Mont Saint Michel Omelette has been one of the best known specialities from Upper Normandy. The traditional recipe was created by the renowned Mère Poulard, cook and owner of the Mont Saint Michel restaurant. Filled with delightful healthy ingredients from the region and cooked over an open fire, the homemade omelette rapidly knew a great success. Even celebrities such as Ernest Hemingway and Yves Saint-Laurent came to taste this gem of the French gastronomy!
According to the legend, original Mère Poularde's omelette recipe may have never been transmitted. The simplest and oldest Omelette is made with only fresh eggs, salt, white pepper, and butter - and two optional spoons of Normandy crème fraîche to get a lighter mixture.
Nevertheless you can now find the Normandy Omelette in many restaurants, even worldwide, serving modern versions of the traditional French speciality - that have nothing to do with original Mère Poulard's dish according to Norman people!
The Omelette Normande
The second Upper Normandy omelette, known in France as the Norman-style Omelette, is the sweet equivalent of the Mère Poulard recipe. This rich apple-flavoured dessert is indeed as traditional as the other one since it is prepared with four products typically produced in Normandy - apples, butter, cream and Calvados - as well as sugar.
Top Tip! For an even more authentic experience, you can order your Omelette Normande flambeed with Calvados and accompany it with a bowl of Normandy Cider!
Either in their savoury or sweet version, Upper Normandy Omelettes have become an essential part of the French Gastronomy, as convivial as its the Breton cousin Crêpes and Galettes.
