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Omelet. Mrs. Midgley.

A baked omelet made with eggs, milk, pepper, salt, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Omelet. Mrs. Midgley.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately.

  2. Add pepper and salt to the yolks, then stir in the milk.

  3. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat a pan until very hot and add the butter.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook for 10 minutes.

  3. Transfer the pan to the oven for 3 minutes.

  4. Slide the omelet onto a hot 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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites trapped by folding provide lift and structure, while yolks add richness and set the custard-like body.
Milk
Adds moisture and dilutes the egg proteins, producing a softer, more tender omelet.
Butter
Coats the hot pan to prevent sticking and adds fat for flavor and browning.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air bubbles that lift the omelet. Vigorous stirring deflates them, leaving a dense, flat result instead of a light one.

“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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