Name: Omelette Parmentier
Ingredients: 4 eggs; 2 tablespoons diced potato, sautéed in butter; 1 pinch chopped parsley; 2 ounces diced bacon; 1 tablespoon finely sliced potatoes, sautéed in butter; ½ tablespoon chopped parsley; 1 pinch crushed chervil

Why it works: Parsley and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 774 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Omelette Parmentier

Ingredients

4 eggs
2 tablespoons diced potato, sautéed in butter
1 pinch chopped parsley
2 ounces diced bacon
1 tablespoon finely sliced potatoes, sautéed in butter
½ tablespoon chopped parsley
1 pinch crushed chervil

Directions

Prepare the filling

In a bowl, beat the eggs and add a pinch of chopped parsley.

Cook the omelette

In a hot omelette pan, sauté the diced bacon in butter until crispy.
Add the sautéed potatoes and parsley to the eggs, mixing well.
Pour the egg mixture over the bacon in the pan.
Cook quickly, keeping the eggs soft, then turn the omelette like a pancake.
Tilt the omelette onto a dish 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.

Parsley + cherviltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together774 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + cherviltop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together96 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Set into the structure of the omelette as they cook, giving body to the dish.
Diced potato: Adds soft, starchy body and a mild savoury bulk to the filling.
Diced bacon: Adds salty, savoury fat that crisps and flavours the pan base.

The step that matters

Cook quickly, keeping the eggs soft. Eggs turn rubbery when over-heated and their proteins tighten. A hot pan and brief cooking keep the curds tender and the omelette moist.

Swap the potato

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

Chivefits better
Shallotfits better
Leekfits better
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, parsley, chervil. 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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Omelette Parmentier