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Excelsior Omelet

A simple omelet made with eggs, milk, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Excelsior Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs together until they can be lifted with a spoon.

  2. Stir in the milk until well mixed.

  3. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered skillet over medium heat.

  4. Using a spoon, gently toss the mixture from the bottom as it sets, avoiding excessive stirring.

  5. When there is no liquid left, quickly turn the omelet onto a warm dish and serve immediately.

  6. Add salt, butter, and pepper to taste.

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

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

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into the structure of the omelet as the proteins coagulate with heat.
Milk
Adds moisture so the eggs stay tender rather than dry and rubbery.
Butter
Greases the skillet to prevent sticking and adds richness to the flavor.

The step that matters

Gently toss the mixture as it sets. Egg proteins set quickly over heat. Excessive stirring breaks up forming curds and makes the omelet tough, so gentle movement from the bottom keeps it tender.

“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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