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Omelet Au Rhum

A French omelet flavored with rum and sweetened with powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and rum are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,908 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Omelet Au Rhum

Ingredients

Directions

Make the omelette

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

  2. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and pour in the eggs.

  3. Cook until the edges are set, then sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

Flame and serve

  1. Ignite the rum in a large spoon using a lighted wooden taper.

  2. Pour the ignited rum over the omelet just before serving.

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. Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,908 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Egg + rumtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,589 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 the structure of the omelette as they cook, giving it body and a tender texture.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the omelette and caramelizes lightly on the surface when heated.
Rum
Adds aroma and flavour; igniting it gives a brief flame and a sweet, warm note.

The step that matters

Pour the rum just before serving. Alcohol vapour ignites easily, so the rum must be warm enough to light but poured while the omelette is hot and the flame is controlled. Igniting too early lets the alcohol burn off, leaving little flavour, and pouring carelessly risks spreading fire.

“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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