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Dessert

Sweet Omelette

A sweet omelette made with sugar, sherry, eggs, butter, jam, and castor sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sherry and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,505 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Sweet Omelette

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sherry syrup

  1. Combine the sugar and sherry in an earthenware pot.

  2. Boil for 3 minutes.

  3. Pour into a basin to cool.

Make the omelette

  1. Add the yolks of the eggs to the cooled mixture and beat until smooth.

  2. Whip the egg whites until stiff.

  3. Gently fold the stiff whites into the yolk mixture.

  4. Melt the butter in a clean omelette pan.

  5. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook for about 2 minutes.

  6. Transfer the pan to a 400°F (200°C) oven for 4 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Slide the omelette onto a hot dish.

  2. Spread hot jam in the center.

  3. Fold the omelette over.

  4. Sprinkle with castor sugar.

  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. Sherry + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,141 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites trapped by whipping give the omelette its light, airy structure as they set.
Crystallized sugar
Dissolving in the sherry makes a syrup that sweetens the omelette and adds moisture.
Sherry
Its liquid, once boiled and cooled, moistens the mixture and adds aroma.
Fresh butter
Melted in the pan, it coats the surface and adds richness and browning.

The step that matters

Folding the stiff whites into the yolk mixture. Whites hold air only while whipped; folding gently keeps that air in, so the omelette rises and stays light instead of deflating.

“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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