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Breakfast

Omelet

A sweetened egg omelet flavored with vanilla and optionally served with jam.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs with salt, sugar, and vanilla extract until well mixed.

  2. Heat the butter in a frying pan over medium heat until frothing.

Cook

  1. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and stir quickly with a spoon, scraping the bottom to prevent sticking.

  2. As the omelet begins to set, shape it into a half-moon with the spoon.

  3. Remove the pan from the heat and hold it in front of the fire for a couple of minutes to help it rise.

Fill and serve

  1. If using jam, keep the omelet round, place a spoonful of jam on one half, and fold the other half over it.

  2. 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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  2. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Their proteins set when heated, giving the omelet its structure and body.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor, and helps keep the egg from sticking to the pan.
Powdered sugar
Adds a mild sweetness to the egg mixture.
Vanilla extract
Adds a gentle aroma to the omelet.

The step that matters

Stirring and setting the egg. Stir while the egg is still liquid, then let it set. Eggs cooked over high heat or overworked turn tough, dry, and browned, so keep the heat at medium and handle the omelet gently once the base begins to set.

“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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