Name: Baked Omelette, with Herbs
Ingredients: 6 eggs, yolks and whites separated; 3 tablespoons milk; ¼ teaspoon arrowroot; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 tablespoon minced parsley; tender celery tops, finely chopped; 1 slice onion, finely chopped; pepper, to taste; coarse sea salt, to taste

Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Baked Omelette, with Herbs

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Beat the yolks of the eggs lightly and stir in the milk mixed with arrowroot.
In a pudding or pie dish, cream the butter with parsley, celery tops, and onion; season with salt and pepper.
Froth the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Mix the yolk mixture with the egg whites gently.

Bake and serve

Pour the omelette mixture into the prepared dish and bake until puffed and set in the middle.
Run a knife around the edge and turn out onto a hot-water dish.
Serve immediately.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Arrowroot + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together137 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Whites trap air for lift and puffiness, while yolks set to give a tender, custardy body.
Milk: Adds moisture and softness, keeping the set omelette tender rather than dry.
Arrowroot: A starch that thickens the milk and yolks slightly, helping the omelette hold its structure.
Butter: Adds richness and flavor and helps the herb and onion mixture cook in the dish.

The step that matters

Fold the yolk mixture into the whites gently. Whites are a foam held up by trapped air. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, so the omelette bakes flat and dense instead of puffing.

Swap the arrowroot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, butter, parsley, celery, onion, pepper):

Carrotfits better
Potatofits better
Chivefits better
Arrowrootthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, butter, parsley, celery, onion, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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Arrowroot Gruel37 recipes

Celery Stew25 recipes

Celery Croquettes16 recipes

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Baked Omelette, with Herbs