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Spanish Omelet

A Spanish omelet with bacon, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, and paprika.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Spanish Omelet

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Fry the bacon in a pan until crisp.

  2. Add the chopped tomato, onion, and mushrooms; stir and cook for 8–10 minutes.

Make the omelet

  1. Beat the eggs vigorously and add salt and pepper.

  2. Heat the butter in a frying pan until it hisses.

  3. Pour the eggs into the pan and shake the pan until the eggs are set.

  4. Quickly pour the bacon and vegetable mixture over the omelet and fold it over.

Serve

  1. Turn the omelet onto a hot platter, garnish with parsley, 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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a tender structure that holds the filling together when cooked.
Butter
Adds richness and helps prevent the eggs from sticking to the pan.
Bacon
Releases fat and savory flavor that carries into the vegetables and eggs.
Mushrooms
Add moisture and earthy flavor to the filling as they cook down.
Tomato
Adds moisture and acidity that brightens the filling.
Onion
Contributes sweetness and aroma as it softens and cooks.

The step that matters

Shaking the eggs until set. Beaten eggs must be kept moving so they cook into soft curds rather than a rubbery sheet, and the omelet should be folded while the top is still slightly moist so it does not overcook and toughen.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, tomato, milk, mushroom, butter, parsley. 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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