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Omelet with Mint and Leeks

A savory omelet flavored with mint, leeks, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Omelet with Mint and Leeks

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, cayenne pepper, mint, and onions or leeks.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour the egg mixture into the frying pan, keeping it thick.

  2. Cook until the omelet is firm and light brown underneath, about 6-7 minutes.

  3. Slide the omelet onto a hot dish and fold it like a turnover, with the brown side up.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Pepper + minttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,372 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 firmness.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the eggs, keeping the omelette tender.
Butter
Fat for the pan that helps the underside brown and adds richness.
Mild onions or young leeks
Add gentle savoury sweetness and aroma to the egg mixture.

The step that matters

Keeping the egg mixture thick when pouring. Eggs set quickly over heat, so a thin mixture cooks unevenly and can become dry or tough before the centre sets. A thicker mixture stays moist and cooks into an even, tender omelette.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, pepper, onion, 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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