Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Friars Omelet
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the apples
Peel, quarter, and stew the apples with just enough boiling water to prevent scorching.
When cooked and still hot, press the apples through a colander.
Stir in the butter and sugar, then set aside to cool.
Make the crumbs and mixture
Melt the butter in a frying pan and stir in the bread crumbs until absorbed and golden-brown.
Butter a pudding mold and sprinkle the bottom and sides with the bread crumbs.
Beat the eggs until light, then mix them into the apple sauce and add lemon juice to taste.
Fill the mold with the mixture, being careful not to rub off the crumbs.
Sprinkle the top thickly with bread crumbs.
Bake and serve
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
Loosen the edges with a knife and turn out carefully onto a flat dish.
Serve hot with Rum or Brandy Sauce in a sauceboat.
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.
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Apple + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,790 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Provide the bulk of the moist, sweet, tender body of the omelet.
- Eggs
- Beaten in to bind the apple sauce and help it set into a soft, sliceable custard when baked.
- Bread crumbs
- Toasted in butter to add golden colour and nutty flavour, and to form a crisp crust.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apple sauce and balances the tartness of the fruit.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour to the apples and helps the crumbs brown.
The step that matters
Toasting the bread crumbs in butter. Crumbs must be stirred until golden-brown, not pale or dark. Properly browned crumbs give flavour through the Maillard reaction, while burnt crumbs turn bitter and spoil the dish.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, bread, egg, lemon):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, bread, egg, lemon. 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.
You might also like
Apple Bread Pudding21 recipes
Apple Pudding256 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Bread Pudding153 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.