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A Spanish Omelet

A Spanish omelet made with eggs, cream, green pepper, onion, tomato, parsley, Parmesan, tomato sauce, butter, salt, cayenne, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 ↓

A Spanish Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Beat the eggs until light.

  2. Add cream, salt, and cayenne pepper.

  3. Stir in the minced green pepper, grated onion, chopped tomato, and minced parsley just before cooking.

Cook and serve

  1. Cook in a pan until set, then fold the omelet.

  2. Invert the pan over a heated platter.

  3. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on the folded omelet.

  4. Pour tomato sauce, seasoned with onion juice, butter, salt, and sugar, around the omelet 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. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,490 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a delicate structure that gives the omelet its body when cooked.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the cooked eggs tender rather than dry.
Green pepper
Adds fresh, slightly bitter vegetable flavour and crisp texture to the filling.
Tomato
Contributes moisture and acidity to the filling.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury, salty flavour and some browning where it melts on the omelet.
Tomato sauce
Provides a moist, tangy sauce that contrasts with the rich eggs.

The step that matters

Cook in a pan until set, then fold the omelet.. Eggs continue to firm from residual heat after leaving the pan, so removing them while just set keeps the omelet tender. Overcooking squeezes out moisture and makes it rubbery.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, pepper, tomato, parsley, parmesan cheese, sauce):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, pepper, tomato, parsley, parmesan cheese, sauce. 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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