Skip to main content
Main

Variations of the Omelet

A cooked egg dish with optional fillings and sauces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Tomato and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,719 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Variations of the Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Make the omelet

  1. Beat the eggs in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into a heated, buttered skillet.

  3. Cook until the edges begin to set, then add your choice of fillings like parsley, cheese, or ham.

  4. Fold the omelet in half and cook until fully set.

Serve

  1. Serve with your choice of sauce or additional toppings.

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

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

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

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

  3. Parsley + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

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

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + peastop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 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 omelet as they cook, forming its body.
Butter
Coats the hot skillet so the egg releases cleanly and browns lightly.
Grated cheese
Melts into the omelet, adding richness and a creamy texture.
Cooked ham
Adds savory flavor and chew to the filling.

The step that matters

Cook until the edges begin to set, then fold. Eggs set quickly under heat. Folding too early tears the delicate, still-liquid center, while overcooking makes the eggs tough and rubbery.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, tomato, sauce, mushroom, peas, butter, cheese):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, tomato, sauce, mushroom, peas, butter, cheese. 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.

More omelet recipes

Plain 115Baked 85Cheese 81Oyster 73Ham 60Tomato 57 See all 160 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesGreen PeasGreen Peas229 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesMacaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipes