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Puff Omelet

A baked omelet made with egg yolks, whites, flour, cream or milk, 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 ↓

Puff Omelet

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the batter

  1. Stir together the yolks of 6 eggs and the whites of 3 beaten very light in a bowl.

  2. Mix 1 tablespoon of flour into ½ cup of cream or milk, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Cook and bake

  1. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan, then pour in the egg mixture.

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

  3. When the mixture thickens, pour the remaining beaten egg whites over the top.

  4. Return the pan to the oven and bake until it is a delicate brown.

Serve

  1. Slip the omelet onto a large plate and 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. 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
Provide richness and help the omelet set into a tender custard-like base.
Egg whites
Beaten to foam, they trap air and make the omelet rise and puff in the oven.
Flour
Thickens the cream or milk so the batter holds together and stays soft.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the omelet tender rather than dry.
Butter
Fats the pan so the base releases cleanly and adds a little richness and browning.

The step that matters

Pour the remaining egg whites over the top at the right moment. Adding the whites only after the base begins to thicken lets the foam sit on top and rise in the oven. If poured too early, the foam mixes in and deflates, so the omelet will not puff.

“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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