Wasn’t it Gordon Ramsey who used to make wannabe chefs cook him an omelette? His reasoning being that anyone can make a show of foams, drips and smears to impress but only a cook with innate ability can prepare an omelette well.

An omelette is, on the surface, about as simple as you can get. Eggs, salt and whatever you fancy inside. The trick is to get the texture just right – not so rubbery you could bounce it off the floor but not so runny you could drink it. And then there’s the need to get the cooking even across the whole omelette; many a pan has hot spots which don’t help and the sharp sides of some pans can make a decent’flip’, flipping hard.

Mermaid Bakeware have created a bespoke omelette pan that makes it easy to get your semi solid egg fix anytime of day and so, being insufficiently egg bound, we had to give it a go.It certainly looks the part with the no nonsense style of a professional pan, although the bare metal handle means it’s best handled with care. The lack of handle does mean you can put the whole thing under a grill or in the oven though, which can come in very handy.

The pan is made from hard heavy gauge anodised aluminium, but it’s not heavy at all, it feels balanced and right just as a good tool should.

Taking a classic recipe from James Winter’s book’Who put the beef in Wellington‘, we went for a rich supper of omelette Arnold Bennet. As soon as the eggs went in, you could see how evenly they cooked, it was almost magic. Pulling the setting egg away from the sides was easy and as as the liquid egg rushed in to take up the freed space it all began to set perfectly.

On with the poached (undyed of course) smoked haddock and parmesan, then a bechamel sauce enriched with egg yolks, then the whole thing went under a red hot grill until set with a golden glaze.

We also tried a classic tortilla, and the pan’s curved sides made turning it over easy and produced a perfectly shaped tortilla that sat on the table like a work of art. You can use the pan for all kinds of frying, but omelettes are what it does best.

For midweek quick snacks it’s ideal and what’s more it washes out in seconds. It’s not cheap, quality never is, but you know it will last you out and be handed down the generations keeping everyone in eggy treats until the last hen stops laying,

The little gem omelette pan comes in two handy sizes, 20cm/8¼Ã¢â‚¬Â (£38.00) and 25cm/10” (£43.00).

Available nationwide from a selection of leading retailers including Lakeland, John Lewis and Amazon.co.uk as well as independent cookshops.For further details visit www.mermaidcookware.com