Name: Omelette a L’espagnole
Ingredients: 6 eggs; 1 small onion or ½ clove of garlic, finely chopped; 3 tablespoons of milk; 1 medium-sized tomato, chopped; ¼ pound of bacon, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon of flour; 2 tablespoons of butter; 5 mushrooms, chopped; Salt and pepper to taste

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Omelette a L’espagnole

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

Fry the bacon in a skillet until brown.
Add the chopped tomato, mushrooms, and onion or garlic; stir over heat for 15 minutes.

Make the egg mixture

Separate the egg whites and yolks.
Beat the yolks and mix in salt, pepper, flour, and milk.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites until smooth.

Cook and serve

Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat.
Pour in the egg mixture.
After 1-2 minutes, loosen the edges with a knife.
When nearly set, add the tomato mixture on top.
Fold the omelet over and serve immediately on a hot platter.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,719 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 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: Provide the main structure, and the whipped whites add lift and a light, airy body.
Milk: Adds moisture and softness, keeping the omelette tender rather than dry.
Butter: Adds richness and helps the underside brown gently in the pan.
Bacon: Contributes fat and smoky, savory flavour that carries through the dish.
Tomato: Adds moisture and a bright acidity that balances the rich eggs and bacon.
Flour: Adds a little starch that helps the egg mixture hold together when cooked.

The step that matters

Gently folding in the beaten egg whites. Beaten whites hold air that gives the omelette its lift. Stirring or beating them after folding knocks that air out, leaving a dense, flat result.

Swap the onion

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

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits better
Asparagusfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, tomato, flour, butter, mushroom, pepper. 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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Mushroom Soup60 recipes

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Omelette a L’espagnole