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French Omelet

A simple omelet made with eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and butter, cooked in a pan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

French Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Make the omelet

  1. Beat the eggs until the yolk and white are well mixed.

  2. Add the salt, pepper, and milk.

  3. Heat an omelet pan over low heat and add the butter.

  4. Once the butter is melted, pour in the egg mixture.

  5. As it cooks, lift the edges with a broad knife to allow uncooked liquid to flow underneath until lightly cooked.

  6. Increase the heat to brown the omelet.

Fold and serve

  1. Fold the omelet, turn it onto a hot platter, garnish, 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. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

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

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

  5. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a tender structure as they cook, forming the body of the omelet.
Milk
Adds moisture so the eggs stay soft and tender rather than dry.
Butter
Coats the pan and adds richness and flavor while keeping the omelet from sticking.

The step that matters

Lifting the edges while the eggs cook. Moving the edges lets uncooked egg flow underneath so it sets evenly. Cooking too long or on high heat makes the eggs tough and rubbery, so lift while the surface is still moist.

“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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