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Omelette with Asparagus

A light egg omelette folded around boiled asparagus seasoned with pepper and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Omelette with Asparagus

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Beat and drain the eggs.

  2. Cut the tops off the boiled asparagus.

  3. Season the asparagus with black pepper and nutmeg, then whisk lightly with the eggs.

Cook and serve

  1. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook until firm and risen.

  3. Slide the omelette onto a hot dish, fold, and serve.

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

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

  2. Asparagus + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,968 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Asparagus + nutmegtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together252 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Egg + asparagustop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set and bind the omelette, forming its firm, airy structure when cooked.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the omelette brown lightly and release from the pan.
Asparagus
Adds a tender, vegetal texture and moisture to the filling.

The step that matters

Cooking the egg mixture until firm and risen. Eggs set when their proteins coagulate with heat. Cooking over medium heat until just set keeps the omelette tender; too much heat toughens and dries the eggs and can scorch the butter.

Swap the asparagus

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Asparagusthe original

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