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Omelet

A fried egg mixture with yolks, whites, pepper, salt, butter, bread pieces, and gravy or milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Beat together the egg yolks and whites, seasoning with pepper and salt.

  2. Melt butter in a hot skillet.

Cook the omelet

  1. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and stir gently to break the yolks.

  2. When the underside begins to crust, quickly turn the omelet over like a roll.

Finish and serve

  1. Cut into slices and serve with celery leaves on the platter.

  2. Fry the small pieces of bread in butter until golden brown, then add to boiling gravy or milk.

  3. Mix the bread with the egg mixture and cook as you would a regular omelet.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Provide richness and fat, and help the omelet set softly and stay tender.
Egg whites
Set into the structure of the omelet, giving it body and lightness when cooked.
Butter
Adds fat for frying, helping prevent sticking and giving a golden browned surface.
Small pieces of bread
Soak up liquid and add body and texture to the eggs.
Gravy or milk
Adds moisture, so the bread softens and the omelet stays tender.

The step that matters

Turning the omelet. Turn the omelet once the underside has just set and begins to crust. Turning too early tears the soft eggs, while waiting too long overcooks the proteins, leaving the omelet dry and tough.

“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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