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Herb Omelette

A lightly seasoned egg dish cooked with herbs and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Herb Omelette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, beat the yolks and whites of the eggs with the cold water until well combined.

  2. Add the salt, black pepper, parsley, onion, and butter or lard; mix well with a wooden spoon.

Cook

  1. In an omelette pan, melt 2 ounces of butter or lard over medium heat.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan, tilting it to spread the eggs evenly.

  3. Shake the omelette into the center, fold up the edges, and cook for about 5 minutes until set.

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. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a tender structure when heated, forming the body of the omelette.
Butter or lard
Adds richness and moisture, and keeps the eggs from sticking to the pan.
Cold water
Adds moisture that turns to steam, keeping the omelette light and tender.
Chopped onion
Adds mild savory flavor and aroma to the eggs.

The step that matters

Cook the omelette over medium heat until just set. Eggs turn tough and rubbery when overcooked, because the proteins tighten and squeeze out water. Cooking gently until just set keeps the omelette tender and moist.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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