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Omelet

A simple egg omelet made with eggs, milk or water, salt, pepper, and cooked in butter or bacon fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

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

  2. Add the salt to the yolks.

  3. Mix the whites and yolks together with the milk, cream, or water.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat a small piece of butter or bacon fat in a pan until melted.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan, loosen the edges with a knife, and fold it over into a half circle.

  3. When cooked, turn the omelet out onto a plate and serve hot.

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Provide the structure that sets into the omelet's body when heated.
Milk, cream, or water
Adds moisture, producing a softer, more tender omelet texture.
Butter or bacon fat
Greases the pan so the omelet releases cleanly and adds flavor.

The step that matters

Pour the egg mixture into the pan, loosen the edges with a knife, and fold it over into a half circle.. Eggs set quickly over medium heat, so the edges firm before the center. Loosening the edges lets the liquid center flow beneath and cook evenly, and folding early prevents overcooking and toughness.

“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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