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Ham Omelette

A fried omelette with butter, ham, eggs, cream or milk, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Ham Omelette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them until very light.

  2. Add the cream or milk and pepper, then beat for another 3 minutes.

Cook the omelette

  1. Melt the butter in an omelette pan.

  2. Finely mince the ham and fry it in the butter for a few seconds.

  3. Add the beaten eggs and stir quickly.

  4. When the eggs start to set, stop stirring and smooth the top.

  5. Allow the bottom to brown and set, then lightly brown the top under the fire.

Serve

  1. Fold the omelette, turn it out onto a hot dish, pour hot tomato sauce around it, 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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

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

  3. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Provide the structure that sets into the body of the omelette.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the omelette brown and release from the pan.
Lean ham
Adds savoury flavour and salt-cured taste to the filling.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and tenderness, keeping the eggs soft rather than dry.

The step that matters

Stop stirring when the eggs start to set. Once the eggs begin to set, stirring breaks up the forming curds and makes the texture grainy. Leaving the base still lets it form a smooth, tender layer that can be folded neatly.

“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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