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Ham Omelet

A baked omelet with ham, milk, flour, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Ham Omelet

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Beat the eggs separately.

  2. In a saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. Stir in the flour until smooth.

  3. Add salt and butter, then let the mixture cool.

Make the omelet

  1. Mix the minced ham, parsley, and thyme into the egg yolks.

  2. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

  3. Grease a skillet and pour in the mixture.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until set.

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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + thymetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter 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 trapped by beating provide lift, and the yolks add richness and structure as the omelet sets.
Sweet milk
Provides the liquid base and moisture that keeps the omelet tender as it cooks.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth base that helps the omelet hold its shape.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender texture.
Minced ham
Adds savory flavor and salt-cured taste throughout the omelet.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Folding rather than stirring keeps the air bubbles in the whites intact. Those bubbles give the omelet its lift, so deflating them leaves a dense, flat result.

Swap the thyme

The recipe marks thyme as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, flour, butter, ham, parsley):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Thymethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, flour, butter, ham, parsley. 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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