Egg foo yung, also spelled egg fu young or egg fuyung, is a Chinese American dish based on a Shanghai classic dish called fu yung egg slices. You could call Fu yung egg slices one of the earliest omelets in existence, invented long before the French coined the name omelet. Fu Yung translates as lotus flower, and the original dish generally combined egg whites only, minced ham or chicken, and was either pan or deep-fried.

Chinese chefs in the US are primarily responsible for egg foo yung as we know it now, and the dish was first likely prepared in the 1940s or early 1950s. The name of the first inventor is now lost, but the invention of the dish could have occurred in any restaurant specializing in Cantonese cuisine. Quite simply, modern egg foo yung uses the whole egg in most cases, producing an omelet, or egg pancake, to which a small amount of meat and vegetables are added.

Suggestion among culinary historians is that initially, egg foo yung was deep-fried. This is an uncommon practice today, and pan-frying much as you would an omelet, is more common. The basic shape doesn’t have to be perfect either, egg foo yung can be somewhat rumpled, folded into squares, or almost resemble scrambled eggs. Brown sauce or sauces with soy sauce are added giving the dish a notable “Chinese” flavor. Further, the dish almost always includes chopped green onions, either incorporated into the eggs or garnishing the top.

Common additions to egg foo yung include strips of pork, beef, chicken, shrimp, or for the adventurous palate, mealworms. Yet unlike the American omelet, the eggs should not be stuffed full of ingredients. Additions are generally scanty, there to provide some flavor without venturing into gluttonous territory. The simplest sauce may merely be a soy or tempura sauce topped with a bit of scallions. More commonly, Chinese brown gravies, like those that accompany dishes such as broccoli beef, often top egg foo yung.

Some versions of the dish would be almost impossible to recognize. The St. Paul sandwich, for instance, is a deep-fried egg foo yung sandwich, served on white bread with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and mayonnaise. You’ll find this variant of the classic dish in St. Louis, Missouri, where the invention of the sandwich is credited to creative Chinese-American chefs. In the rest of the US, you’re more likely to find egg fu yung in Chinese restaurants, but the recipe is so simple, it’s certainly worth trying at home too, especially since it is quick to prepare.