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Orange Omelet

A sweet orange-flavored omelet flavored with powdered sugar and orange zest, finished with a caramelized sugar topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and egg 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 ↓

Orange Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat the yolks of the eggs with the powdered sugar to a cream.

  2. Add the grated zest of the orange rind and the orange juice; fold in lightly the beaten whites of the eggs.

Cook the omelet

  1. Heat a clean, smooth omelet or frying pan; add a teaspoonful of butter, rubbing it around the sides and bottom of the pan.

  2. Pour in the omelet mixture and spread it evenly.

  3. Do not shake the pan.

  4. Cook until it is a delicate brown and seems cooked through, but not hard.

  5. Fold the edges over a little and turn the omelet onto a flat hot dish.

Finish and decorate

  1. Sprinkle it plentifully with powdered sugar.

  2. Heat a poker red hot and lay it on the omelet four times, leaving crossed burnt lines in the form of a star, which ornaments the top and gives a caramel flavor to the sugar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

291Calories
8 gProtein
17 gFat
28 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

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

By Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Butter + orangetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,301 recipes

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

Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
Whites are folded in for lightness and the yolks set into the omelet's structure.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and, when sprinkled on top, caramelizes under the hot poker.
Butter
Greases the pan so the omelet releases cleanly and browns lightly.
Orange juice
Adds moisture and bright citrus acidity to the batter.
Orange zest
Adds aromatic orange oils that flavor the omelet.

The step that matters

Do not shake the pan. Shaking can break up the delicate folded egg foam and deflate the batter, so the omelet turns out flat and dense instead of light.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg. 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.

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