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Oyster Omelette

A fried egg mixture with minced oysters, butter, and salt.

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

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

  2. Beat the yolks of 8 eggs and the whites of 4 eggs in a bowl until very light.

  3. Mix in the minced oysters and season with coarse sea salt.

Cook

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

  2. Pour the egg and oyster mixture into the skillet and stir until it stiffens.

  3. Fry until the underside is light brown.

Finish and serve

  1. Turn the omelette onto a hot platter.

  2. If desired, brown the upper side 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).

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Supply the main briny flavor and a tender, chopped texture throughout the omelette.
Egg yolks
Add richness and a smooth, soft texture to the set omelette.
Egg whites
Whip into a light foam that sets into an airy structure when heated.
Butter
Provides fat for frying, adds richness, and helps the underside brown.

The step that matters

Stirring the mixture as it sets. Egg proteins set as they heat. Stirring while the mixture stiffens keeps the curds small and tender, while leaving it to cook still will make the omelette dry and rubbery.

“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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