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Puff Omelet

A baked omelet made with egg yolks, whites, flour, cream or milk, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Puff Omelet

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the batter

  1. Stir the egg yolks and beaten egg whites together.

  2. Mix the flour with the cream or milk.

  3. Add salt and pepper.

Bake

  1. Melt the butter in a pan.

  2. Pour the mixture into the pan.

  3. Place the pan in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

  4. Wait until the mixture thickens.

  5. Pour the remaining beaten egg whites on top.

  6. Return the pan to the oven.

  7. Bake until golden brown.

Serve

  1. Slide the omelet onto a large plate.

  2. 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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Add richness and, as they set with heat, give the omelet its structure.
Egg whites
Trap air when beaten, lifting the omelet so it puffs in the oven.
Flour
Thickens the liquid so the base holds its shape instead of running.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the omelet tender rather than dry.
Butter
Adds fat for flavor and golden browning, and helps prevent sticking in the pan.

The step that matters

Wait until the mixture thickens. The yolk and flour base must set on the heat before the remaining beaten whites go on top. If it is too thin, the whites sink and the omelet will not puff.

“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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