Skip to main content
Main

Oyster Omelette

A savory omelette made with oysters, eggs, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Oyster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,184 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Oyster Omelette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oysters

  1. Remove the hard part from the oysters.

  2. Mince the oyster flesh very finely.

Make the mixture

  1. Beat the yolks of 8 eggs until very light.

  2. Beat the whites of 4 eggs until very light.

  3. Mix the beaten yolks and whites together.

  4. Add the minced oysters to the egg mixture.

  5. Season with salt and pepper.

  6. Beat the mixture thoroughly.

Cook the omelette

  1. In a skillet, melt ½ cup of butter until it boils.

  2. Skim the melted butter.

  3. Pour the omelette mixture into the skillet.

  4. Stir until it stiffens and turns light brown.

  5. Once the underside is brown, turn it onto a hot platter.

  6. If desired, brown the top by holding a red-hot shovel over it.

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  5. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 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

Egg whites
Beaten until light, they trap air and give the omelette a light, airy structure.
Egg yolks
They add richness and a tender texture, and help the omelette set softly.
Butter
Fat that fries the omelette, adds flavour and promotes light browning on the surface.
Oysters
Minced oyster flesh provides the main flavour of the omelette.

The step that matters

Stir until it stiffens and turns light brown. Egg proteins set as they heat, and overcooking squeezes out moisture and makes the omelette tough and rubbery. Stop once it is just set and the underside is golden.

“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.

You might also like

Mock Oyster SoupMock Oyster Soup21 recipesCorn FrittersCorn Fritters6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipes