Name: Omelet. with Ham, Cold Tongue and Other Meats.
Ingredients: 6 eggs; 2-3 tablespoons butter; minced meat of ham, tongue, cold chicken, or veal; salt and pepper to taste

Why it works: Butter and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,594 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Omelet. with Ham, Cold Tongue and Other Meats.

Ingredients

6 eggs
2-3 tablespoons butter
minced meat of ham, tongue, cold chicken, or veal
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare

Beat the eggs until light and fluffy.
Warm the minced meat in a dish with a little butter, but do not fry.
In a skillet, heat 2-3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.

Cook and serve

Pour the beaten eggs into the skillet and let them cook until lightly browned on the bottom.
Season the eggs with salt and pepper, then add the warmed meat.
Fold the omelet over and remove it from the skillet quickly.
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.

Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,594 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,777 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Egg + meattop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,432 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Set into the omelet's structure as they cook, holding the filling together.
Butter: Adds richness and flavor and keeps the eggs from sticking to the skillet.
Minced meat: Supplies the savory filling that gives the omelet its main flavor.

The step that matters

Removing the omelet from the skillet. Eggs keep cooking from residual heat, so leaving the omelet in the pan too long can make it dry and tough. Folding and removing it promptly keeps the interior moist and tender.

“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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Omelet. with Ham, Cold Tongue and Other Meats.