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Omelet a LA Célestine

A sweet omelet folded around preserves, finished in the oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and apricot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,458 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Omelet a LA Célestine

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the omelets

  1. Melt ½ tablespoon of butter in a small omelet pan over low heat.

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold in the yolks, salt, and 1 tablespoon of sugar.

  3. Pour ¼ of the egg mixture into the hot pan and shake for about 15 seconds.

  4. Spread 1 tablespoon of preserves in the center, fold the omelet, and turn it out onto a warm dish.

  5. Repeat to make four omelets, placing them side by side on the same dish.

Finish and serve

  1. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and place in a 400 °F (200 °C) oven for 2 minutes.

  2. 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. Butter + apricottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,458 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + apricottop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,630 recipes

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

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 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 give the omelets their light, airy structure, and the yolks add richness.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the omelets and, sprinkled on top, caramelizes lightly in the oven for color.
Butter
Greases the pan and adds fat for a rich flavor and browning on the surface.
Apricot jam or preserved strawberries or raspberries
Adds fruity sweetness and moisture to the filling inside each folded omelet.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Stiff whites trap air that makes the omelet rise and stay light. Under-beaten whites collapse and make the omelet dense, while over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy and lose their stretch.

Swap the apricot

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Apricotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, 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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