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Omelet

An omelet made with diced kidneys, eggs, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidneys

  1. Skin the kidneys and cut them into small dice.

  2. Toss the diced kidneys in a frying pan with 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes.

  3. Whisk the eggs with salt and pepper, then stir in the pieces of kidney.

Cook the omelet

  1. Heat the remaining butter in the frying pan until it bubbles.

  2. Pour in the omelet mixture and cook over low heat for 4 to 6 minutes until the eggs are set.

  3. Fold the edges of the omelet to form an oval shape.

Brown and serve

  1. To brown the top, hold the pan before the fire for 1 to 2 minutes or use a salamander.

  2. Carefully slide the omelet onto a very hot dish or invert it onto a plate.

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Pepper + vealtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,381 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Egg + vealtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,845 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

Eggs
Set to form the omelet's structure and body as they cook.
Kidneys
Provide the main savory flavor and firm, tender pieces through the eggs.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor and keeps the omelet from sticking to the pan.

The step that matters

Cooking the omelet over low heat. Eggs turn tough and rubbery when cooked too hot. Gentle low heat lets the proteins set softly, keeping the omelet tender and moist.

“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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