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Omelette Mousseuse

A light, airy omelette made by whisking egg whites into yolk mixture and cooking quickly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Omelette Mousseuse

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Beat the yolks of the eggs in a bowl with salt, pepper, and cream.

  2. Add chopped parsley and the whisked egg whites.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a wide omelette pan with hot butter.

  2. Toss the omelette quickly, turning the edges towards the center.

  3. When set, roll the omelette up quickly 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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whisked whites trap air, giving the omelette its light, fluffy structure when set.
Butter
Hot butter adds richness and helps the omelette release from the pan while it cooks.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the omelette tender rather than dry.

The step that matters

Rolling the omelette while just set. Egg proteins firm as they heat, and an overcooked omelette turns dry and rubbery. Rolling it quickly once set keeps it tender and prevents it from deflating.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, cream, butter):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Celeryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, cream, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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