Egg Foo Yung

Egg Foo Yung seemingly developed as a part of the cuisine of Canton in China, and it came to the United States in the 1800s with Chinese immigrants. The dish is really a type of omelet (also spelled omelette) and it is often, but not always, served in the U.S. with a sauce or gravy spooned over the top, which is something that became common in Chinese-American cuisine. Believe it or not, before I made Egg Foo Yung myself, I only recall having eaten it one time in my life, and that was at a Chinese restaurant buffet. I've used no meat in this recipe, but you can easily do so by using some chopped up ham or precooked pork or chicken (a good way to use leftovers). If you like a "kick" to your food, mix in some chopped hot chili pepper with the bell pepper. Make sure to drain the bean sprouts well, or they will add lots of liquid to the mixture (I actually squeeze them in my hands to get rid of excess water). Because of the chicken stock, the oyster sauce and the soy sauce, the gravy will have a salty taste, so you really don't need to add much salt to the actual omelet mixture itself.     

Ingredients:

8 eggs
1/3 cup chopped green onions/scallions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup carrot shavings
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (red, orange, yellow, green or some mixture)
1/3 cup beans sprouts (drained and dried)
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
vegetable oil or peanut oil for frying

(for the sauce:)
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 inch pieces ginger, peeled and grated
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water

For the sauce, in a sauce pan, add the chicken stock, the oyster sauce, the soy sauce and the ginger. Bring to a gentle boil over low to medium heat and simmer for 4 or 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep the sauce at a simmer while gradually whisking in the cornstarch/water mixture. Let the sauce thicken, then remove from the heat and cover. Chop/cut the vegetables and assemble the ingredients for the omelets. In a skillet (a non stick skillet is good for this), begin to heat some oil over medium heat.* In a large bowl, add the eggs and cornstarch and whisk until the whites and yolks are well combined. Add the other ingredients and stir to mix and distribute everything. Use a ladle to put the egg mixture into the hot oil of the skillet. Let the eggs begin to set and you can reduce the heat a bit. When the bottom half of the omelet is nicely browned, carefully (they're kind of fragile) turn the omelet over to cook on the other side. Be careful not to burn the omelets, as the outsides should be browned, but the insides should be somewhat airy and fluffy, and there should still be some crispness to the vegetables, not mushiness. Unlike the traditional omelets of the "western" world, these omelets are not folded over. Serve with some of the brown gravy spooned over the top.

* I've found the using a 5 or 6 inch non stick skillet for Egg Foo Yung works very well. I add about 2/3 teaspoon vegetable oil for each omelette. The small size of the skillet keeps the omelets uniform in size and appearance, but you can also use a larger skillet and cook more than one omelet at a time.

Two omelets per serving is likely better, but I found that in doing so, it is difficult to see in a picture, so I used one omelet with some sauce for the photo.

WORD HISTORY:
Logic-This word is related to a number of English words, including to the last part of "apology," a word borrowed by English from Latin, which had borrowed it from Greek. "Logic" goes back to Indo European "leg," which had the notion "to gather, to collect, to pick;" thus also, "select, choose," with the extended form "lego/logo,"meaning, "to pick out/choose words;" thus, "to speak." This gave transliterated Greek the noun "logos," meaning, "something said, something uttered;" thus also, "speech, an expressed thought/expressed thoughts," thus a further meaning of "thoughtfulness, reason, rationality." This produced the transliterated Greek adjective "logikós," meaning, "of or about speech or reasoning," which gave Greek the noun, "logikē," meaning, "logic;" that is, "rational thought, reasoning." This was borrowed by Latin as "logica," which passed to Latin-based Old French as "logique." English borrowed the word from French initially as "logike"^ in the mid 1300s meaning, "way of thinking things through, use of rationality to determine conclusions;" in every day usage, "the process of determining what makes sense and also that which one determines to make sense."  

^ While I could not find the evidence for this, I "wonder" if this spelling is from the Anglo-French dialect that developed from the Norman dialect and other French dialects carried to England beginning in late 1066, and which was then influenced by French from the Continent over time.