Why it works: Kale and mustard share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 98 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
2 servingsIngredients
Contains: egg, milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Cook the chopped bacon in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes until crisp. Move the bacon to a plate and leave the drippings in the pan.
Add the kale to the drippings with a splash of water. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring once, until tender. Uncover and cook 1 minute more to drive off the water, then transfer to a bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, Dijon mustard and black pepper for 30 seconds until smooth.
Wipe the skillet clean, then melt the butter over medium-low heat.
Pour in the egg mixture. Cook 1 minute, then gently pull the edges toward the center, tilting the pan so uncooked egg flows underneath, for 2 to 3 minutes until mostly set.
Spread the kale and bacon over one half of the omelet and sprinkle with the shredded cheese. Fold the other half over the filling and cook 1 minute more until the cheese melts and the eggs are set to 160°F (71°C).
Slide the omelet onto a plate, cut in half and serve warm.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Kale + mustardtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together98 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + cheddar cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,434 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + cheddar cheesetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,963 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mustard + cheddar cheesetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together708 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (kale, egg, milk, butter, cheddar cheese, pepper):
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Asparagusbetter flavor fit
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against kale, egg, milk, butter, cheddar cheese, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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