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Boiler Omelet

A boiled egg custard made with eggs, spices, herbs, and cream, cooked in small cups.

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 ↓

Boiler Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Beat the eggs in a bowl until well mixed.

  2. Add pepper, salt, nutmeg, parsley, and chives; mix well.

  3. Stir in the cream or milk.

Cook and serve

  1. Butter small cups or molds and fill them halfway with the egg mixture.

  2. Place the cups in boiling water and cook for 10 minutes.

  3. Carefully turn out the omelets and serve with a sauce if desired.

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 + chivetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Nutmeg + chivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together300 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into the soft, sliceable body of the omelet as they cook.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the set egg tender rather than rubbery.

The step that matters

Place the cups in boiling water and cook for 10 minutes. Egg proteins set at moderate heat, so the water must stay at a steady boil and the cups must not be overfilled. Overcooking makes the eggs firm and rubbery, while filling them too full can cause the mixture to spill or cook unevenly.

Swap the chive

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

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Carrotfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Chivethe original

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