Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Tomato Omelet
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan.
Cook 1 tablespoon of finely chopped onion and the chopped pepper in the butter until softened.
Add 1 cup of tomatoes and cook until the mixture has evaporated.
Stir in 1 tablespoon of sliced cooked mushrooms, ¼ teaspoon of coarse sea salt, and black pepper to taste.
Cook the omelet
In a bowl, beat 4 eggs and mix in 4 tablespoons of milk, along with a little salt and pepper.
In an omelet pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and pour in the egg mixture.
Cook until set, then surround the omelet with the tomato mixture.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,719 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set into a structure that holds the omelet together when cooked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour while cooking the onion, pepper and omelet.
- Tomatoes
- Add moisture and acidity, reduced to a concentrated filling.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that makes the eggs softer and more tender.
- Onion
- Adds savoury aroma and sweetness when softened in butter.
The step that matters
Cooking the tomato mixture until evaporated. If the tomatoes keep too much liquid, they will make the filling watery and can soften the omelet. Cooking them down concentrates their flavour and leaves a thicker filling.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, tomato, mushroom, egg, milk):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, tomato, mushroom, egg, milk. 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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