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Tomato Omelet

A tomato omelet made with tomatoes, flour, milk, eggs, pepper, and salt, cooked in a skillet.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomato Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and chop the tomatoes small.

  2. Mix the flour with a little milk to form a smooth paste.

Make and cook the omelet

  1. Add the beaten eggs, pepper, salt, and tomatoes to the mixture.

  2. Fry the omelet in a skillet for 5 to 6 minutes without turning it.

  3. Fold the omelet over if desired before serving.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Tomato + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
Set into the structure of the omelet as they cook, holding it together.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth paste that helps keep the eggs tender and stable.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and a tangy, slightly acidic flavor to the omelet.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the eggs as they set.

The step that matters

Fry without turning for 5 to 6 minutes. Egg proteins set from the bottom up, so leaving the omelet undisturbed lets the base firm and brown lightly. Turning too early can break the set eggs and leave the centre runny or torn.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, egg, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, egg, pepper. 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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