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German Omelet

A savory omelet with beef, mushrooms, onions, and a sauce made from flour and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

German Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Make the omelette

  1. Beat the eggs very light and mix in the milk and rolled soda cracker.

  2. Heat butter in a skillet until very hot, then pour in the egg mixture.

  3. Cook until set, then fold one half over the other.

Make the filling

  1. In another pan, brown 1 tablespoon of butter and fry the chopped onion until soft.

  2. Add flour and stock to the onion, stirring until thickened.

  3. Season with pepper and salt, then add the chopped beef and mushrooms.

Serve

  1. Place the omelet on a hot dish and pour the meat mixture over it.

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. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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 when cooked, holding it together.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the egg mixture tender rather than dry.
Soda cracker
Adds body to the egg mixture, helping it hold moisture as it cooks.
Flour
Thickens the stock into a sauce that coats the onion, beef and mushrooms.
Stock
Provides liquid that, with the flour, forms the savoury gravy for the filling.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and moisture to the meat filling.

The step that matters

Heat butter in a skillet until very hot, then pour in the egg mixture.. Eggs poured into a very hot pan set quickly at the edges while staying tender in the centre. A cool pan lets them spread and cook dry and tough.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, butter, beef, mushroom, flour, pepper):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, butter, beef, mushroom, flour, 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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