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Omlette Aux Fines Herbes

A French omelette flavored with minced herbs, shallot, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Omlette Aux Fines Herbes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. In a bowl, lightly whisk the eggs until well combined.

  2. Add the minced herbs, shallot, and salt, mixing gently.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat the butter or lard in a small frying pan over medium heat until hot.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook without stirring until the bottom is set.

  3. When the edges are firm, fold the omelet in half 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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Shallot + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  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
Set into a delicate structure as they cook, forming the body of the omelette.
Butter or lard
Fats that coat the pan, prevent sticking and add richness to the surface.
Minced herbs
Add aroma and fresh flavour to the eggs.
Shallot
Adds a mild, sweet onion-like aroma and flavour to the eggs.

The step that matters

Cook without stirring until the bottom is set. Eggs coagulate as their proteins unfold and bond with heat. Stirring while the base is setting breaks up those forming curds, leaving a scrambled texture instead of a smooth, tender sheet that folds cleanly.

Swap the shallot

The recipe marks shallot as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, parsley, butter):

  1. Shallotthe original
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Leekfits less well
  4. Potatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, parsley, 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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