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Fish Omelet

A savory omelet made with codfish, potatoes, flour, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Fish Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, cook together the flour and butter.

  2. Gradually add the hot milk and a little pepper.

Prepare the fish

  1. Pour boiling water over the shredded codfish.

  2. Drain the codfish.

  3. Mix the codfish with the thickened milk.

  4. Add the chopped cold boiled potatoes.

Cook and serve

  1. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.

  2. Add the fish mixture and cook slowly until a thick crust forms.

  3. Fold the omelet over and serve on a hot platter.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  3. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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

Flour
Cooked with butter to form a roux that thickens the milk into a smooth sauce.
Butter
Enriches the roux and fries the omelet, adding richness and browning to the crust.
Hot milk
Forms the liquid base that the roux thickens into a binding sauce for the fish.
Shredded codfish
Provides the main flavor and protein, bound into the sauce to form the omelet.
Cold boiled potatoes
Adds body and a soft texture to the fish mixture, helping it hold together.

The step that matters

Cook slowly until a thick crust forms. Medium, gentle heat lets the bottom set and brown evenly before the omelet is folded. Higher heat can scorch the butter and crust before the centre sets, and the omelet may break when folded.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Chivefits less well
  4. Shallotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, milk, pepper. 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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