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Savoury Omelet

A quick omelet made with eggs, milk, herbs, onion, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Savoury Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Break the eggs into a bowl and add the milk, flour, salt, sweet herbs, and chopped onion.

  2. Beat the mixture until well combined.

Cook and serve

  1. Melt the butter in a small frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and shake it gently.

  3. Cook until the omelet is set and browned on the bottom.

  4. Fold the omelet, transfer it to a hot dish, and serve.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 into the structure of the omelet as they cook.
Milk
Adds moisture, keeping the omelet tender rather than dry.
Flour
Helps thicken the egg mixture so it holds together when folded.
Butter
Fats the pan to prevent sticking and adds richness and browning.
Onion
Adds savory flavor and aroma as it softens in the egg.

The step that matters

Cook until set and browned on the bottom. Cooking over medium heat sets the eggs gently. Too much heat toughens and dries them, while too little leaves the center wet and unset before folding.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, pepper, flour, butter. 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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