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Plain Omelet

A light, baked omelet made with egg yolks, whites, cream, flour, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Plain Omelet

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Beat the yolks of 6 eggs and the whites of 3 eggs until very light.

  2. In a bowl, mix ½ cup of cream (or milk) with 1 tablespoon of flour until smooth.

  3. Add salt and pepper to taste.

  4. Heat a frying pan and melt 1 tablespoon of butter in it.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour the egg and cream mixture into the hot pan.

  2. Place the pan in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  3. When it thickens to your liking, pour the beaten egg whites on top.

  4. Let it brown slightly.

  5. Carefully slide it onto a hot dish with the whites on top.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the omelet as they thicken with heat.
Egg whites
Whipped to a light foam, they give the top a airy, lifted structure.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the omelet tender rather than dry.
Flour
Thickens the cream mixture so it holds together and sets more evenly.

The step that matters

Adding the egg whites on top. Whites must be beaten light but the base should be set enough to support them. Adding them too early lets them sink and weigh down the base, while waiting too long makes the top dense and the omelet overcooked.

“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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