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Boiled Omelet

A boiled egg custard cooked in small cups, flavored with pepper, salt, nutmeg, parsley, chives, and cream or milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Boiled Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the egg mixture

  1. Beat the eggs in a bowl until well mixed.

  2. Add pepper, salt, nutmeg, parsley, chives, and cream or milk; mix well.

Cook and serve

  1. Grease small cups or molds with butter and fill them halfway with the egg mixture.

  2. Place the cups in boiling water and boil for 10 minutes.

  3. Carefully turn out the omelets and serve with sauce if desired.

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. Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  4. Nutmeg + chivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together300 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a firm, sliceable custard that holds the omelette's shape when turned out.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the set egg tender rather than rubbery.
Chives
Adds a mild oniony aroma and fresh flavour to the egg.
Parsley
Adds fresh, green herbal flavour and aroma to the egg.

The step that matters

Boiling the cups in water for 10 minutes. Egg proteins set with heat, so the water must be kept at a steady boil for the full time. Too little heat or time leaves the centre runny and the omelette may not hold its shape when turned out.

Swap the chive

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

  1. Spinachfits about as well
  2. Shallotfits about as well
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Chivethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, nutmeg, parsley, 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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