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Washington Omelet

A fluffy omelet made with milk-soaked bread crumbs and eggs, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Washington Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Bring the milk to a boil and pour it over the bread crumbs. Let it stand for a few minutes.

  2. In a bowl, break the eggs and stir until well mixed.

  3. Add the milk and bread mixture to the eggs and mix well.

  4. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a hot skillet with melted butter.

  2. Fry slowly, cutting into squares, turning to fry until golden brown.

  3. 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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 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
Set into the structure of the omelet as they cook.
Bread crumbs
Soak up the hot milk and add body and softness to the mixture.
Milk
Moistens the bread crumbs and keeps the omelet tender as it sets.
Butter
Fat in the skillet that helps the surface brown and adds flavor.

The step that matters

Fry slowly, turning to golden brown. Egg proteins set and toughen quickly over high heat, so cooking slowly over moderate heat keeps the omelet tender while the surface browns evenly.

“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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