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Fancy Omelet

A variation of omelet with optional herbs, apples, or asparagus/sorrel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and asparagus work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 80 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fancy Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Crack three or four eggs into a bowl and beat them well.

Make the omelets

  1. For the plain omelet, pour the eggs into a hot, greased skillet and cook until set.

  2. Add chopped herbs to the beaten eggs before cooking.

  3. Add diced apples to the beaten eggs before cooking.

  4. Add cooked asparagus or sorrel to the beaten eggs before cooking.

Serve

  1. Serve all omelets on the same dish, layering them one over the other.

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. Apple + asparagustop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together80 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Egg + asparagustop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

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

  3. Egg + appletop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,461 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Proteins set when heated, giving the omelet its structure and soft, firm texture.
Herbs
Add fresh aroma and flavour to the beaten eggs.
Apples
Add sweetness and moisture that contrasts with the savoury eggs.

The step that matters

Cook the plain omelet until just set. Egg proteins tighten as they heat, so overcooking squeezes out moisture and leaves the omelet dry and rubbery. Stop cooking once the eggs are set but still moist.

Swap the apple

The recipe marks apple as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, asparagus):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Pumpkinfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, asparagus. 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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