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Rum Omelet

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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

Prepare the pan

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon of lard in a pan until simmering.

  2. Remove the pan from the heat and wipe it dry.

  3. Add a little fresh lard to the pan.

  4. Heat the pan over a hot fire.

  5. Remove the pan from the hottest part of the fire.

Make the omelet

  1. Whisk 3 eggs thoroughly with a fork, adding 1 teaspoon of milk.

  2. Beat the eggs until just before pouring into the pan.

  3. Use a knife to prevent sticking.

  4. Shape the omelet for folding.

Finish and serve

  1. Turn the omelet onto a hot dish.

  2. Dust the omelet with powdered sugar.

  3. Singe the sugar with a hot iron rod.

  4. Pour ⅓ cup of warm Jamaica rum around the omelet.

  5. Ignite the rum.

  6. Dash the burning rum over the omelet with a tablespoon.

  7. Extinguish the fire.

  8. Serve the dish.

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
Whisked and cooked to form the omelet's set, tender structure.
Lard
Fat that greases the pan so the omelet releases without sticking.
Milk
Adds a little liquid that keeps the beaten eggs softer when cooked.
Jamaica rum
Warmed and ignited for a flamed finish that adds aroma to the omelet.
Powdered sugar
Dusted on top, then singed to give a light caramelized sweetness.

The step that matters

Remove the pan from the hottest part of the fire. Eggs cook quickly and turn tough and rubbery at high heat. Moving the pan off the hottest part keeps the omelet tender and helps prevent scorching before folding.

“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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