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Oyster Omelet

A fried omelet made with eggs, cream, oysters, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Oyster Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Beat the eggs very light and mix with cream.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the omelette

  1. Melt butter in a frying pan.

  2. Add the egg mixture to the pan.

  3. Cut oysters in halves or chop fine with parsley and drop into the pan.

  4. Fry until light brown.

  5. Fold the omelet over 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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Egg + oystertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into the structure of the omelette as they cook, forming its body.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the eggs tender rather than dry.
Butter
Adds fat for frying and gives the surface a golden browning and flavor.
Oysters
Provide the briny, savoury flavor that defines the omelette and cook through in the eggs.

The step that matters

Fry until light brown. Eggs cook quickly and turn tough and rubbery if overheated. Keep the heat moderate so the omelette sets softly and browns lightly, then fold it before it dries out.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, pepper, butter, oyster):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Capersfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, pepper, butter, oyster. 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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