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Plain Omelet

A simple omelet made with eggs, milk, salt, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Plain Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Beat the yolks of the eggs with a whisk and add the milk and salt.

  2. Beat the egg whites until very light and fold them into the yolk mixture.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat an omelet pan and add the butter.

  2. Pour the beaten egg mixture into the hot pan.

  3. Shake the pan until the egg begins to thicken, then let it stand for 1-2 minutes to brown.

  4. Run a knife between the omelet and the pan, fold it over, and turn it onto a dish.

  5. 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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whipped whites add lightness and the yolks set into a tender, cohesive omelet.
Milk
Adds moisture and makes the egg mixture softer and more tender when cooked.
Butter
Coats the hot pan to prevent sticking and adds richness and browning.

The step that matters

Shaking the pan while the egg sets. Shaking keeps the eggs moving so they cook in soft, tender curds rather than sticking. Once the egg begins to thicken, letting it stand lets the base brown lightly without overcooking the interior.

“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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