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Cheese Omelet

A simple omelet made with eggs, Parmesan cheese, pepper, salt, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Parmesan cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cheese Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk until well mixed.

  2. Add pepper, salt, and cheese to the eggs.

Cook and serve

  1. Melt 1 ounce of butter in an omelet pan.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and stir quickly to prevent sticking.

  3. When the omelet is just set, fold it over towards the handle of the pan and then slide it onto a hot dish.

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. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Egg + parmesan cheesetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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 omelet as they cook, forming its body.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and richness, and melts slightly into the eggs.
Butter
Greases the pan so the omelet releases cleanly and adds richness.

The step that matters

Stirring the eggs in the pan. Stirring quickly keeps the egg proteins moving so small curds form and the omelet does not stick or scorch on the hot pan. Once the eggs are just set, folding stops further cooking and keeps the omelet tender rather than dry.

“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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