Name: Baked Omelet Aux Fines Herbes
Ingredients: 6 eggs; 1 cup boiling milk; 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons cold milk; 1 tablespoon chopped parsley; 1 tablespoon chopped thyme; 1 tablespoon chopped sweet marjoram; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon salt; butter for greasing the dish

Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Baked Omelet Aux Fines Herbes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the omelet mixture

Beat the egg yolks until light, then pour in the hot milk.
Stir in the cornstarch mixture, season with salt and pepper, and fold in the whipped egg whites.
Add the chopped herbs and mix gently.

Bake and serve

Grease a pudding dish with butter and pour in the omelet mixture.
Bake for about 12 minutes, or until set in the middle but not longer to avoid a leathery texture.
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.

Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,225 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,979 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,609 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Egg proteins set on heating, giving the omelet its structure and body.
Milk: Adds moisture and softness, keeping the custard-like texture tender when baked.
Cornstarch: Thickens the milk mixture so it holds together rather than weeping liquid.
Parsley: Adds fresh, green herbal flavor and aroma to the omelet.
Thyme: Adds earthy, savory aroma that complements the eggs.
Sweet marjoram: Adds a mild, sweet herbal aroma to the omelet.

The step that matters

Bake only until just set. Eggs keep setting from residual heat and overbaking tightens the proteins too far, making the omelet dry and leathery.

“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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Baked Omelet Aux Fines Herbes