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Savory Omelet

A simple egg omelet flavored with salt, pepper, parsley, and butter.

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

Savory Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Break the eggs into a bowl.

  2. Add salt and pepper to taste.

  3. Wash, dry, and finely chop the parsley (about 1 teaspoon).

  4. Mix the chopped parsley into the eggs.

  5. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork for 2 seconds.

Cook the omelet

  1. Melt the butter in an omelet or frying pan over medium heat. Ensure the butter is hot but not burnt.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan.

  3. Stir quickly with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking.

  4. Spread the mixture evenly and let it cook through. Watch carefully to avoid burning.

  5. Use a knife to lift the omelet and fold it over.

  6. When it turns pale brown, slide it onto 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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a tender structure as they cook, forming the body of the omelet.
Butter
Coats the pan to prevent sticking and adds richness and gentle browning.
Parsley
Adds fresh, herbal aroma and a little color to the eggs.

The step that matters

Stir quickly with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking. Moving the eggs while they begin to set keeps small curds forming instead of a solid layer that sticks and burns on the pan. Once the base is set and evenly spread, the omelet can cook gently without scorching.

“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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