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Omlette Aux Fines Herbes

A quick 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

Prepare the eggs

  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 a small non‑stick pan over medium heat and add butter or oil.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan, cooking until the edges set but the center remains slightly soft.

  3. 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 the structure of the omelette as they cook, giving it body and a tender texture.
Minced herbs
Add fresh aroma and flavor that brightens the eggs.
Shallot
Adds a mild, sweet onion-like aroma to the eggs.
Butter or oil
Coats the pan so the omelette releases easily and gains a little richness.

The step that matters

Cooking until the edges set but the center remains slightly soft. Egg proteins coagulate with heat, so overcooking turns the eggs firm, dry and rubbery. Stopping while the center is still slightly soft keeps the omelette tender, since residual heat finishes setting the interior after it leaves the pan.

Flavor stand-ins for 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. Chiveabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, parsley, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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