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Omelet and Shad Roes

A savory omelet folded over shad roes, seasoned with salt, onion, cayenne, parsley, and milk or cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Omelet and Shad Roes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Heat the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Stir in the shad roes, salt, grated onion, cayenne, and parsley until heated through.

  3. Add the milk (or cream) and baking soda; cook for 3 minutes and keep warm over boiling water.

Make and serve the omelet

  1. Beat the eggs for 1 minute, then add the cream, salt, and pepper.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into a hot omelet pan with hissing butter.

  3. Shake the pan until the omelet is set, then pour the shad roes on top.

  4. Fold the omelet over 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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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 inside.
Shad roes
Provide the main filling, adding rich flavor and a tender, creamy texture.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the eggs tender rather than dry.
Baking soda
Raises the pH slightly, which can help the roes and milk stay tender when cooked.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor, and helps the omelet release from the hot pan.

The step that matters

Shake the pan until the omelet is set. Egg proteins set quickly over high heat, so stopping at the right moment keeps the omelet tender and moist. Overcooking tightens the proteins and makes it rubbery.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, roe, pepper, parsley, milk, egg, cream):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, roe, pepper, parsley, milk, egg, cream. 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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