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Oyster Omelette

A savory omelette made with oysters, eggs, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Oyster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,184 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Oyster Omelette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Remove the hard part from the oysters and mince the rest very fine.

  2. In a bowl, beat the yolks of 8 eggs and the whites of 4 eggs until very light.

  3. Mix in the minced oysters and season with salt and pepper.

Cook and serve

  1. Melt ½ cup of butter in a skillet until it boils, then skim off any foam.

  2. Pour the omelette mixture into the skillet and stir until it begins to stiffen.

  3. Fry until the underside is light brown, then turn it onto a hot platter.

  4. If desired, brown the top by holding a red-hot shovel over it.

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. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  2. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  5. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the main briny flavour; mincing spreads them evenly through the eggs.
Egg yolks
Add richness and fat, keeping the omelette tender and smooth.
Egg whites
Beaten to trap air, giving the omelette lightness and structure as it sets.
Butter
Provides the frying fat, adds richness, and browns the underside.

The step that matters

Fry until the underside is light brown, then turn it onto a hot platter.. Egg proteins set when heated, so the omelette must cook gently until just set. Overheating or overcooking toughens the eggs and dries the omelette, while underdone eggs stay runny in the centre.

“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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