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Omelet

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

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 the eggs

  1. Separate the whites and yolks of the eggs.

  2. Beat the yolks and whites thoroughly until light.

  3. Add the butter to the beaten yolks.

  4. Mix flour with enough milk to make a paste, then combine with the remaining milk.

  5. Add salt and pepper, then pour into the yolk mixture.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat the omelet pan and melt the butter.

  2. Add the beaten egg whites and stir until the mixture sets.

  3. Place the pan in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 2 minutes.

  4. Fold the omelet and serve on a hot dish.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites set into a light structure and yolks add richness and body to the omelette.
Milk
Adds moisture and makes the omelette tender rather than dry.
Butter
Adds fat for flavour and keeps the eggs from sticking in the pan.
Flour
Thickens the milk mixture slightly, helping the omelette hold together.

The step that matters

Add the beaten egg whites and stir until the mixture sets. Egg proteins coagulate under heat, so cooking too long or at too high a heat makes the omelette tough and rubbery. Stir gently and remove it while still moist.

“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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