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Savoury Omelet

A fried omelet with finely chopped meat, ham, shallot, parsley, and egg yolk mixture, folded with beaten egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Savoury Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, mix the chopped meat, ham, shallot, parsley, salt, and pepper.

  2. In a separate cup, combine the yolks of 3 eggs and 2 teaspoons of flour with 1 cup of milk.

  3. Beat the egg whites in another bowl until stiff.

Cook and finish

  1. Heat lard in a frying pan until boiling.

  2. Combine the meat mixture with the yolk mixture and pour into the hot lard.

  3. As it begins to fry, gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

  4. Cook for 10 minutes over low heat until set.

  5. Brown the top with a salamander before serving.

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. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks thicken the batter and whites are beaten to add lift and a light, airy texture.
Flour
Helps bind the egg and milk mixture so the omelet holds together when set.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the omelet tender rather than dry.
Lean ham
Contributes savory flavor and salty depth to the meat filling.
Cold fowl, veal, or veal kidney
Forms the main meat base, providing substance and savory richness.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites at the start of frying. Whites hold air only while whipped, so folding them in gently as the base begins to set keeps the omelet light. Overmixing or delaying the fold can deflate the foam and leave the omelet dense.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, meat, parsley, pepper, egg, flour):

  1. Shallotthe original
  2. Carrotfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits less well
  4. Leekfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, meat, parsley, pepper, egg, flour. 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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