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Omelet Bonne Femme

A simple omelet with onions, mushrooms, and bell peppers, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Omelet Bonne Femme

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

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

Cook the omelet

  1. In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the onions, mushrooms, and bell peppers; sauté until soft.

  3. Pour the beaten eggs over the vegetables and cook until set.

  4. Fold the omelet in half and 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. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  2. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a structure that holds the filling together when cooked.
Butter
Adds fat for richer flavor and keeps the eggs from sticking to the skillet.
Onions
Soften and add sweetness and savory depth to the filling.
Mushrooms
Release moisture and add earthy flavor as they cook down.
Bell peppers
Add crisp-tender texture and mild, slightly sweet flavor.

The step that matters

Pour the beaten eggs over the vegetables and cook until set. Eggs turn firm at moderate heat. Cooking too hot or too long makes them tough and rubbery, while cooking too briefly leaves them runny and unset.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, 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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