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Silly question, why do you start frittata's out on the stove top?

post #1 of 8
8/2/08 at 6:26am
Thread Starter 
What's the reasoning behind it?
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post #2 of 8
8/2/08 at 6:31am
How else would you cook it evenly? For the early part, you can do some scrambled egg type mixing, stopping early enough that there's enough left over liquid to cook the fritatta solid with the rest of the cooking.
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post #3 of 8
8/2/08 at 8:05am
Couldn't it cook evenly in the oven, like a quiche?

scb
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post #4 of 8
8/2/08 at 8:16am
I've seen recipes that do fritatta totally in the oven. They take a long time compared to the stove. And they have a crusty dry exterior and too often a gooey interior to be a good fritatta.

But the quiche is more of a custard than an omelet. Very much a more liquid dish cooked to set. The fritatta is pretty much an omelet. The speed of the cooking makes the texture right for a fritatta that would ruin a quiche.
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post #5 of 8
8/2/08 at 8:31am
There are several reasons for starting a frittata on the stove.

First, the proportion of egg to solid ingredients is usually high. So, as the frittata cooks you gently pull it away from the sides so the liqudy egg can run under it.

Second is to get that nice crust on one side. With the combination of oil and direct bottom heat you develop a bottom crust. Then, by finishing in the oven, the top sort of browns, but isn't crunchy.

You can serve that way. But very often, with a frittata, you flip it at service, so you have a good top-crust, but a softer bottom.

This differs from, say, a tortilla, which is done entirely on the rangetop, and flipped halfway through. That way you get a crust on both top and bottom.

And, finally, as Phil notes, it takes two days longer than forever for a frittata to cook just in the oven. And the texture leaves much to be desired when you do so.
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post #6 of 8
8/2/08 at 9:10am
KY and Phil covered most of the ins and outs.

The big reason is contained in the name. You fry a frittata because that's what it is. A frittata is a "fried thing." Ideally, the oven sets the top and the interior has that soft, moist, custard consistency of perfect eggs. You're pretty much always going for that state with omelettes. Quiches too, but the method is different.

Think for a minute about a French omelette. As the bottom sets, you move the runny eggs off the top and add them to the bottom. When the top doesn't flow, but is still uncooked, you fold the omelette, With two layers of top, encased by three of bottom. Then you heat just a little longer so what was the top just sets -- but doesn't harden.

A frittata is much the same but stratified differently. You still want, "just set," but not hard and dry.

Last tangential thought: It's not necessary to go through the whole plate/ inversion thing with a tortilla Espana. It's just that not many of us have the cojones to flip an omelette that big and heavy by tossing it. I don't. Other tortillas aren't as difficult to handle and are typically flipped. Think of them as "pancake style" omelettes as from a (Jewish) deli. My favorite is artichoke (globo) and chorizo which, I suppose would be termed a "gourmet salami" in Brooklyn.

BDL
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post #7 of 8
8/2/08 at 9:41am
Thread Starter 
thanks. was discussing them with some friends on a non-food board and didn't have a real answer. I make "mini" fritattas all the time, and don't start them out on the stove, just put them in a tart or muffin pan .....guess why it works ok is because of the small portion....so it cooks pretty evenly. any bigger, like a "real size" frittata and i can see problems :)



goofing around with leftovers and a tart pan one day :) haha.
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post #8 of 8
8/2/08 at 10:25am
In all my years in Italy (over 35) i never saw a frittata cooked anywhere but entirely on the stovetop. I guess that would make it like the spanish tortilla. I don';t know a single person who would finish it in the oven. Most Italians rarely use the oven, and certainly not for a frittata. Pretty much everything except (rarely made) cakes and pasta al forno (a decidedly sunday dish) (well, maybe depending on the region, polenta impasticciata, teh Neapolitan baked rice timballo whose name escapes me, etc) is made on the stovetop. It would be considered completely wasteful to turn on the oven to do a frittata.
I don;t say that means it's the best way, just that they're not done here that way. Though I'm not one to tell anyway, because i don;t like frittate.
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