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Spanish Omelette

A Spanish omelette made with onion, green pepper, tomatoes, eggs, butter, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Spanish Omelette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Cook the chopped onion and green pepper in a pan until they are a delicate brown.

  2. Scald the tomatoes, then remove the skins and chop them.

  3. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan mixture and cook the mixture for 10 minutes until done.

Make the omelette

  1. Beat the eggs in a bowl and season with salt.

  2. Mix in half of the tomato, pepper, and onion mixture into the eggs.

  3. Heat butter in an omelette pan until it bubbles.

  4. Pour the egg mixture into the pan.

  5. When the edges begin to set, add the remaining vegetables.

  6. Fold the omelette and serve.

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 + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  2. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. 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

Eggs
Set into the structure of the omelette as they cook, holding the filling together.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity, softening into the filling as they cook down.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savory depth as it browns slowly in the pan.
Green pepper
Contributes a fresh, slightly bitter note and body to the filling.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor and helps keep the omelette from sticking to the pan.

The step that matters

When the edges begin to set, add the remaining vegetables. Egg proteins set quickly, so adding the vegetables too early or too late changes the result. Adding them once the edges have firmed keeps the base cooking evenly and lets the centre stay moist and tender while the vegetables are folded in.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, pepper, egg, butter):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, egg, butter. 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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