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Sardine Omelet

A quick omelet made with sardines, eggs, cream, salt, pepper, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓

Sardine Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the bones from the sardines and mash them.

  2. In a bowl, beat the eggs with cream, salt, and pepper.

Cook the omelette

  1. Heat butter in a skillet over medium heat.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and cook until it begins to set.

  3. Add the mashed sardines on one half of the omelet.

  4. Fold the omelet over and cook until fully set.

  5. Serve hot.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  4. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set to form the omelette's structure as they cook.
Sardines
Provide the main filling and savory, oily richness.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness to the beaten eggs.
Butter
Fat for frying that keeps the omelette from sticking and adds flavor.

The step that matters

Fold the omelet over and cook until fully set. Egg proteins set with heat, so cooking too hot or too long makes the omelette tough and rubbery, while underdone egg stays runny in the centre. Cooking gently until just set keeps it tender around the filling.

“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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