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Fried Omelet

A fried omelette made with eggs, milk, flour, butter, lard, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Home for the Friendless (Chicago, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Fried Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine three eggs, two gills milk, two tablespoons flour, a little salt, and pepper; fry on a hot griddle.

  2. Take three eggs and beat the whites and yolks separately.

  3. To the beaten yolks, add a half teaspoon of salt and a teacup of rich cream, in which a heaping teaspoon of flour has been smoothly rubbed.

  4. Stir in the beaten whites as for cake.

Cook

  1. Heat a skillet with a tablespoon of lard until hot but not burning.

  2. Pour the mixture into the skillet and let it stand until it is a rich brown on the bottom.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

899Calories
27 gProtein
39 gFat
108 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Home for the Friendless (Chicago, Ill.). 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. See the original page.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Eggs
Provide structure and lift, with the beaten whites giving the omelette its airy body.
Flour
Thickens the mixture and gives it structure as it sets.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the set omelette.
Cream (in the method)
Adds richness and moisture, making the omelette tender.
Lard
Fat in the skillet that conducts heat and browns the bottom.

The step that matters

Let the batter sit undisturbed in the hot lard until the underside is set and richly browned.. Moving it too early tears the delicate egg-white foam and the bottom sets unevenly, while a skillet that is too hot scorches before the centre sets.

“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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