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Omelet Aux Fines Herbes

A light omelet made with finely chopped parsley, sorrel, thyme, and sweet marjoram folded into beaten egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Omelet Aux Fines Herbes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, separate the egg yolks from the whites.

  2. Chop the parsley, sorrel, thyme, and sweet marjoram very finely.

Make the omelet

  1. Mix the chopped herbs with the egg yolks.

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the herb and yolk mixture.

  3. Cook the mixture in a hot, greased skillet until set.

  4. Serve immediately.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + sorreltop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together234 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Sorrel + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together67 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set to form the omelet's structure, with whipped whites adding lightness and air.
Parsley
Adds fresh, green flavour and aroma to the eggs.
Sorrel
Contributes a tangy, lemony acidity to the herb mixture.
Thyme
Adds earthy, savoury aroma that complements the eggs.
Sweet marjoram
Adds a mild, sweet, floral aroma to the herb blend.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the herb and yolk mixture. Stiff whites trap air that gives the omelet its lift. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air from collapsing, so the omelet stays light and tender when it sets in the pan.

Swap the sorrel

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, parsley, thyme, marjoram):

  1. Sagefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Sorrelthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, parsley, thyme, marjoram. 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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