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Savoury Omelet, Plain

A simple omelet made with eggs, butter, salt, pepper, and mixed herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓

Savoury Omelet, Plain

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Beat the eggs until just frothy.

  2. Melt the butter in a small pan until it begins to sizzle.

Cook and serve

  1. Add the beaten eggs and seasoning to the pan.

  2. Stir gently until the omelet is about three-quarters set.

  3. Push the omelet to form a semicircle and hold it in front of the fire for 1 minute.

  4. Slide the omelet 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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

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

  5. Butter + peppertop 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 by heat to form the omelet's structure and give it a tender, custardy texture.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor and helps keep the omelet from sticking to the pan.

The step that matters

Stir gently until the omelet is about three-quarters set.. Egg proteins set as they heat. Removing the omelet while still slightly moist lets residual heat finish cooking it. Cooking until fully firm squeezes out moisture and makes the eggs tough and rubbery.

“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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