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Ham Omelet

A fried omelet made with minced ham, eggs, pepper, and butter or lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,475 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Ham Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. If the ham is uncooked, fry it in a little butter for 1-2 minutes.

  2. In a bowl, beat the eggs well and stir in the minced ham and pepper.

  3. Heat the butter or lard in a frying pan until hot.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and stir quickly until it sets.

  2. Shake the pan for 1-2 minutes to prevent burning.

  3. Fold the omelet in half and cook until one side is browned.

  4. Turn it onto a hot dish 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. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

  5. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into the structure of the omelet as they cook, holding the filling together.
Butter or lard
Fat that conducts heat into the pan and helps the omelet brown and release cleanly.
Ham
Adds savoury flavour and salt-cured taste to the egg mixture.

The step that matters

Pour the egg mixture into the pan and stir quickly until it sets. Eggs turn from liquid to solid over a narrow temperature range. Stirring keeps curds small and tender, while letting the eggs sit too long makes them tough and rubbery.

“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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