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Omelet, Plain

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Omelet, Plain

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Beat the eggs until the yolks and whites are well mixed.

  2. Add the milk, salt, and pepper to the egg mixture.

Cook and serve

  1. Melt the butter in an omelet pan and remove any scum that rises.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and stir with a fork until it begins to set.

  3. Fold the sides towards the middle to form an oblong shape or draw the mixture towards the handle for a half-moon shape.

  4. Turn the omelet onto a hot dish 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. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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 as they cook, forming the body of the omelet.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that keeps the omelet from sticking and gives a soft, buttery flavour.
Milk
Dilutes the egg proteins slightly, producing a softer, more tender omelet.

The step that matters

Stir until it begins to set, then fold. Egg proteins set quickly over moderate heat. Stirring gently while the surface is still wet creates soft curds, and folding too late can leave the omelet dry and tough.

“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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