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Kidney Omelette

A savory omelette with diced sheep's kidney, onion, parsley, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Kidney Omelette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the kidney

  1. Wipe the kidney, remove the skin, and cut it into small dice.

  2. In a stewpan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter, then add the kidney, parsley, and onion.

  3. Stir over medium heat until just cooked, keeping it slightly underdone.

Make the omelette

  1. Beat the egg yolks and whites separately, then combine them and season with salt and pepper.

  2. In an omelette pan, melt the remaining tablespoon of butter, then pour in the egg mixture.

  3. Stir the eggs in the center until half cooked, then add the kidney mixture in the center.

  4. Fold the omelette once, shake the pan to prevent sticking, 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 + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 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. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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 and give it a tender, custardy body when cooked gently.
Sheep's kidney
Provides the main savory filling, with a firm texture that stays tender if not overcooked.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor, and keeps the eggs from sticking to the pan.

The step that matters

Stir the eggs until half cooked, then add the kidney. Egg proteins set quickly with heat, so if the eggs cook fully before the filling goes in, the omelette turns dry and rubbery. Stopping at a partly set stage keeps it moist while the fold finishes the cooking.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, butter, egg, pepper. 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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