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Potato Omelette

A fried egg dish with mashed potato mixed into the eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Potato Omelette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs together.

  2. Thin the mashed potato with the milk and strain through a colander.

  3. Stir the potato mixture into the eggs.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat butter in a pan until warm, then pour in the mixture.

  2. Shake the pan and loosen the omelette with a spatula.

  3. When nearly done, hold the pan under a broiler to brown the top.

  4. Invert the pan over a very hot dish and turn out the omelette without folding.

  5. Serve immediately, as it will fall quickly.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  3. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 omelette as they cook, giving it body.
Mashed potato
Adds body and moisture, giving the omelette a tender, soft texture.
Milk
Thins the potato so it blends smoothly and keeps the omelette moist.
Butter
Fat for frying that prevents sticking and adds richness and browning.

The step that matters

Hold the pan under the broiler only when nearly done. Egg proteins set quickly under high heat, so the top can brown and over-firm while the centre is still runny. Watching closely keeps the omelette tender and evenly cooked.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Chivefits less well

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