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Omelet Savoury

A savory omelet made with soaked wholemeal bread, milk, water, onion, egg, herbs, pepper, salt, and butter, baked until done.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Omelet Savoury

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Soak the wholemeal bread in cold milk and water until soft.

  2. Rub the soaked bread smooth.

  3. Mix in the grated onion, beaten egg, flavoring herbs, pepper, and salt.

Bake

  1. Transfer the mixture to a pie dish.

  2. Dot the top with small pieces of butter.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 4 hours, or until done.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Wholemeal bread
Soaked and rubbed smooth, it forms the body and soft texture of the omelet.
Egg
Sets as it bakes, binding the bread and onion into a firm, sliceable custard.
Milk
Softens the bread and adds moisture and a tender crumb.
Onion
Adds savory aroma and sweetness as it cooks into the mixture.
Butter
Adds fat that enriches flavor and promotes gentle browning on the top.

The step that matters

Bake until done. The egg must set fully through the center, so the omelet is cooked to the middle and not left wet or custardy. Baking for the stated time at moderate heat sets the egg gradually, which helps avoid a dry edge while the center is still runny.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, egg, 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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