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Omlette Aux Fines Herbes

A quick omelette made with eggs, herbs, shallot, and butter or oil.

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

Omlette Aux Fines Herbes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Whisk the eggs lightly in a bowl until well combined.

  2. Add the minced herbs, shallot, and salt, mixing gently.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat a small non-stick pan over medium heat and add butter or oil.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan, cooking until the edges begin to set.

  3. Cook on one side until lightly browned, then fold the omelet in half 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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

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

  3. Shallot + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

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 as they cook, holding the filling together.
Butter or oil
Conducts heat into the pan and helps prevent sticking, while adding richness and gentle browning.
Minced herbs
Add fresh, aromatic flavour that brightens the mild eggs.
Minced shallot
Adds a mild, sweet onion-like aroma and savoury depth.

The step that matters

Cook on one side until lightly browned, then fold. Eggs cook quickly and turn rubbery when overcooked, so the omelette should be pulled while the centre is still slightly moist. Gentle heat and an early set of the edges keep the texture tender.

Flavor stand-ins for the shallot

The recipe marks shallot as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, parsley, butter):

  1. Shallotthe original
  2. Chiveabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, parsley, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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