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Rum Omelet

A fried egg mixture flavored with rum, lightly dusted with powdered sugar and flambéed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and rum work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 967 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Rum Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Make the omelet

  1. Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk them thoroughly with a fork until light.

  2. Add the milk and continue to beat until ready to pour into the pan.

  3. Heat a pan over high heat and pour in the egg mixture.

  4. As soon as the omelet sets, remove the pan from the hottest part of the fire.

  5. Use a knife to prevent sticking and when the center is almost firm, shape the omelet for easy folding.

  6. When slightly browned, hold a platter against the edge of the pan and turn the omelet out onto the hot dish.

  7. Add a little salt just before folding the omelet.

Finish and flame at the table

  1. Dust powdered sugar over the omelet and singe it with a hot iron rod.

  2. Pour warm rum around the omelet and set fire to the rum at the table, dashing the burning rum over the omelet with a tablespoon.

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 + rumtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together967 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,908 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

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

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 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).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Eggs
Set into the structure of the omelet as they cook, giving it body and tenderness.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness so the eggs stay tender rather than tough.
Jamaica rum
Warmed and set alight to add aroma and a flamed, caramelised flavour at serving.
Powdered sugar
Dusted on and singed to add sweetness and light browning to the surface.

The step that matters

Remove the pan from the hottest part of the fire as soon as the omelet sets. High heat cooks egg proteins quickly, so overcooking makes the omelet tough, dry and browned before the centre is ready. Moving it off the hottest heat lets the centre finish gently while the outside stays tender.

“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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