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Puff Omelet

A baked omelet made with yolks, egg whites, flour, milk, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Puff Omelet

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. In a bowl, stir the yolks of six eggs with one tablespoon of flour and half a cup of milk.

  2. Add salt and pepper to taste.

  3. Beat the three egg whites until very light, then fold them into the yolk mixture.

Cook and bake

  1. Melt one tablespoon of butter in a pan over medium heat.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan.

  3. Place the pan in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  4. When the mixture thickens, pour the remaining beaten egg whites on top.

  5. Return the pan to the oven and bake until golden brown.

Serve

  1. Carefully slide the omelet onto a large 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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg whites trap air for lift, while yolks set the custard-like body of the omelet.
All-purpose flour
Starch thickens the yolk mixture slightly, helping it hold its shape.
Milk
Adds moisture and tenderness to the yolk mixture.
Butter
Fat for the pan that promotes browning and prevents sticking.

The step that matters

Folding the beaten egg whites into the yolk mixture. Overmixing or deflating the whites removes the air bubbles that give the omelet its puff. Fold gently so the batter stays light and rises in the oven.

“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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