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Omelet, Savoury

A light, seasoned omelet made with eggs, cream, herbs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Omelet, Savoury

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Beat the eggs until light.

  2. Add the cream or milk, parsley, shallot, and herbs.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook

  1. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and cook until set.

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 + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

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

  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 a delicate structure that forms the body of the omelet.
Butter
Adds richness and helps keep the omelet from sticking to the skillet.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and softness to the set eggs.
Shallot or onion
Adds mild aromatic sweetness when cooked into the eggs.

The step that matters

Cook until set over medium heat. Eggs proteins coagulate at moderate heat; too high a temperature toughens and browns them before the centre sets. Medium heat gives a tender, evenly cooked omelet.

Swap the shallot

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

  1. Potatofits about as well
  2. Spinachfits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Shallotthe original

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