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Egg Dishes

A set of simple egg dishes, mostly omelets, made with eggs and bread, potatoes, rice, flour or tomatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Abel, Mary Hinman, b. 1850 · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 26 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Egg Dishes

Ingredients

Directions

Bread omelet

  1. Soften 1 cup of hard bread in hot water and milk, or in cold water (press in a cloth and crumble).

  2. Add part of a chopped onion (amount illegible in scan), 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, 1 egg, salt and pepper to the bread.

  3. Heat some bits of suet or beef fat in a frying pan or square baking pan.

  4. Pour the bread mixture into the pan.

  5. Cover and bake five minutes, then uncover and brown.

  6. Or cook it slowly on top of the stove.

  7. Cut in pieces and serve around the meat or with a gravy.

  8. Cut bread, fresh or stale, into strips, squares or rounds with a cake cutter.

  9. Let the bread soak till soft but not broken in 1 pint of salted milk into which two eggs have been beaten.

  10. Bake a nice brown or fry on a griddle in half suet and half butter.

Potato and rice omelets

  1. Fry a small sliced onion in a teaspoonful of butter or fat.

  2. Fill the pan with 2 cups of cold sliced potatoes, and salt and pepper them.

  3. Pour over them 2 beaten eggs.

  4. Bake slowly till it is just solid and turn out carefully on a platter.

  5. Or use 1 cup potatoes and 1 cup bread crumbs instead.

  6. Mix 1 cup cold boiled rice, 2 teaspoons milk, 1 egg and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

  7. Pour into a pan in which a tablespoon of butter has been heated.

  8. Fry and double over when done.

  9. Or bake it like potato omelet.

Flour and tomato omelets

  1. Mix 1 egg, 1 cup milk, 2 tablespoons flour and a pinch of salt.

  2. Add the beaten white of the egg last.

  3. Cook in the pan under roasting beef, cut in squares and serve around the meat.

  4. Or bake in a buttered pan without meat.

  5. Mix 3 eggs, 1 cup flour (scant), 1 tablespoon fine herbs, salt and cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon sugar, juice of 2 large tomatoes and 1 cup warm milk.

  6. Bake under roasting meat, or alone in a buttered pan.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1229Calories
37 gProtein
27 gFat
209 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
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 Abel, Mary Hinman, b. 1850. 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. Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  2. Potato + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together851 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 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
Bind the mixture and set when heated, giving the omelets their structure.
Bread
Soaks up liquid and gives the bread omelet body and a soft, tender texture.
Potatoes
Provide bulk and starch that hold the omelet together while it bakes.
Rice
Adds bulk and a tender texture to the egg mixture.
Flour
Thickens the milk and egg mixture so it sets into a firm, tender omelet.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the egg mixture as it cooks.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, potato, rice, milk, flour, sugar, butter):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Turmericfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, potato, rice, milk, flour, sugar, butter. 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.