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Omelette Aux Fines Herbes

A lightly cooked omelette flavored with parsley, salt, pepper, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Omelette Aux Fines Herbes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Crack the eggs into a bowl.

  2. Add salt, pepper, and chopped parsley.

  3. Beat with a fork for about 1 minute until well mixed.

  4. Ensure the omelette pan is clean and dry.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat the butter in the pan over high heat until melted but not browned.

  2. Pour in the eggs and stir gently with a fork to cook evenly.

  3. When the edges start to set, tilt the pan to help cook the center.

  4. Fold the edges of the omelette towards the center to shape it.

  5. Lightly shake the pan over the heat to color the top.

  6. Invert the omelette onto a plate and 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.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a tender structure as they cook, forming the body of the omelette.
Butter
Coats the pan to prevent sticking and adds richness and flavor to the omelette.
Parsley
Adds fresh herbal aroma and flavor throughout the eggs.

The step that matters

Heat the butter until melted but not browned. Butter that browns becomes bitter and can scorch the eggs, while butter that is too cool lets the eggs stick. Holding it at melted and foaming heat gives a clean, even surface for the omelette.

“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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