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Oyster Omelet

A savory omelet made with oysters, eggs, butter, milk, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Oyster Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the gills from the oysters and mince them very fine.

  2. Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately, whipping the whites until firm.

  3. Heat the butter in a frying pan.

Make the omelet

  1. Stir the milk into the yolks and season with salt, pepper, and cayenne.

  2. Gradually add the minced oysters, mixing well.

  3. Pour in a spoonful of melted butter and gently fold in the whipped egg whites.

  4. Once the butter is hot, pour the mixture into the pan.

  5. When it begins to set, carefully slide a knife around the edges and underneath the omelet to allow the butter to reach all parts.

  6. When the center is set, turn it out onto a hot dish with the browned side up.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters
Provide the main flavor and tender, savory filling throughout the omelet.
Eggs
Set into the structure of the omelet, with whipped whites adding lightness and volume.
Butter
Fat that cooks the omelet and browns its underside for flavor.
Milk
Thins the egg yolks so the mixture stays smooth and tender when cooked.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped whites. Whipped egg whites trap air that gives the omelet its lift. Folding gently keeps that air in, while stirring hard would deflate the foam and leave the omelet dense.

“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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