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Omelettes of Fish

A savory omelette made with cold salt cod, eggs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Omelettes of Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fish omelette

  1. Flake the cold salt cod and season the fish with cayenne, nutmeg, and white pepper.

  2. Mix the seasoned fish with 6 beaten eggs and ½ cup cream or milk.

  3. Fry the mixture in a buttered frying pan on one side only, then fold the omelette and serve.

Make the filled omelette

  1. Chop the cold fish and mix it with parsley, shallot, butter, and lemon juice.

  2. Heat this mixture in the oven.

  3. Beat 6 eggs, season them, and pour them into a buttered frying pan.

  4. When the eggs begin to turn opaque, add the warm fish in the center.

  5. Roll in the ends of the omelette and serve.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

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

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

  4. Nutmeg + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  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 to form the omelette's structure and give it a tender, custardy body.
Salt cod
Main protein that supplies the savory, salty flavor of the dish.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the eggs tender rather than dry.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor, and helps the omelette brown lightly in the pan.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich eggs and fish.

The step that matters

Adding the warm fish to the eggs. Add the fish once the eggs have just begun to set but are still slightly runny. The proteins in the eggs firm up as they heat, so adding the fish too early lets it sink, while waiting too long leaves the filling sitting on top of firm, dry egg.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

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