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Omlette Aux Fines Herbes

A French omelette flavored with minced herbs and optional shallot, cooked in butter or oil.

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

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the filling

  1. Whisk the eggs lightly in a bowl until well combined.

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

Cook and serve

  1. Heat a small non-stick pan over medium heat and add butter or oil.

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

  3. Cook until the bottom is lightly browned and the top is slightly runny, about 3-4 minutes.

  4. Fold the omelette 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 tender structure when heated, forming the body of the omelette.
Herbs
Add fresh aroma and color to the eggs without changing their texture.
Butter or oil
Adds fat for frying, helping prevent sticking and promoting light browning.

The step that matters

Cook without stirring until the edges set. Stirring breaks up the forming egg curds and makes the texture grainy. Letting the edges set first builds a tender layer, while the centre stays slightly runny.

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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