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Oyster Omelet

A savory omelet made with oysters simmered in butter and flour, then folded with beaten eggs and served hot.

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 ↓

Oyster Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Make the oyster sauce

  1. Stew the oysters in their own liquor or a little water.

  2. Roll the butter in flour and add to the oysters; bring to a boil.

  3. Season with pepper and salt, then chop the oysters.

  4. If needed, thicken the sauce with a little flour.

  5. Return the oysters to the sauce and keep warm on the stove.

Cook the omelette

  1. Beat the eggs lightly and mix in the milk or cream.

  2. Fry the egg mixture in a well-buttered frying pan until done.

Serve

  1. Transfer the omelet to a hot platter and pour the oyster sauce over it.

  2. Serve hot.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

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

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

Eggs
Set into the structure of the omelette as they cook through.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and keeps the omelette from sticking while it fries.
Flour
Thickens the butter and oyster liquor into a smooth, coating sauce.
Oysters
Provide the main flavour and texture of the sauce.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and softness to the egg mixture, keeping the omelette tender.

The step that matters

Thicken the sauce and keep it warm without boiling. Flour must be fully cooked into the liquid to avoid a raw, pasty taste, and the oysters can toughen and curdle if overheated, so the sauce should stay gently warm.

“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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