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 ↓
Corn Omelet
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a skillet, melt a large piece of butter over medium heat.
Make and bake the omelet
In a bowl, combine the grated corn, beaten eggs, milk or cream, and salt.
Pour the mixture into the hot skillet and cook for a few minutes until set.
Transfer the skillet to the oven and brown the top.
Serve
Slide the omelet onto a platter and serve.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 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
- Set into a firm custard that binds the corn together as the omelet cooks.
- Grated corn
- Supplies the bulk, sweetness and moisture of the omelet.
- Milk or cream
- Adds richness and moisture, keeping the eggs tender rather than dry.
- Butter
- Fat that prevents sticking and adds richness and browning to the surface.
The step that matters
Cook until just set, then brown in the oven. Eggs turn rubbery when overcooked. Cooking gently on the stovetop until just set keeps the omelet tender, and the oven then browns the top without drying it out.
“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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