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Omelettes with Herbs

A quick omelette flavored with parsley, onions or chives, salt, pepper, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓

Omelettes with Herbs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

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

  2. Add the chopped parsley, onions or chives, salt, pepper, and milk; mix well.

Cook

  1. Heat a little fat in a pan over medium heat.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook until the edges begin to set.

  3. Gently lift the edges and let the uncooked egg flow underneath.

  4. When nearly set, fold the omelette in half and slide it onto a plate.

  5. 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 + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  5. Onion + milktop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Provide the structure that sets into the body of the omelette when heated.
Milk
Adds moisture, keeping the eggs tender and soft rather than dry.
Parsley
Adds fresh herbal aroma and flavour to the eggs.

The step that matters

Cooking over medium heat until the edges just set. Eggs turn firm and rubbery when overheated, so cooking gently over medium heat and lifting the edges lets the uncooked egg flow underneath and keeps the omelette tender.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, parsley, pepper, milk. 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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