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Boiled Omelet

A boiled egg custard cooked in small cups, flavored with pepper, salt, nutmeg, parsley, chives, and cream or milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Boiled Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat a pot of water to boiling.

Make the omelets

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs well and mix in pepper, salt, nutmeg, parsley, and chives.

  2. Stir in the cream or milk until combined.

  3. Grease small cups or molds with butter and fill them halfway with the egg mixture.

  4. Place the cups in the boiling water and cover.

  5. Boil for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out the omelets.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  4. Nutmeg + chivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together300 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a firm, sliceable custard when heated, giving the omelet its structure.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and a softer, more tender texture to the set eggs.
Chives
Contribute a mild oniony aroma and fresh flavor.
Parsley
Adds fresh, herbal aroma and color.

The step that matters

Boil for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out the omelets. Egg proteins set as they heat, so the cups must stay covered and boil long enough to cook through. Turning out too early can leave the centre runny and break the delicate set omelet.

Swap the chive

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, nutmeg, parsley, cream, butter):

  1. Spinachfits about as well
  2. Shallotfits about as well
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Chivethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, nutmeg, parsley, cream, 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.

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