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Asparagus Omelet

A quick omelet with boiled asparagus, eggs, salt, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,338 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Asparagus Omelet

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil asparagus in slightly salted water for 15 minutes.

  2. Drain and cut the edible part into small pieces.

  3. Beat the eggs until very light and add salt.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour eggs into a hot frying pan with butter.

  2. Spread asparagus on top, fold the omelet when hot, 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. Asparagus + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Asparagus + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,026 recipes

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

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 and give it body when cooked.
Asparagus
Adds bulk, a mild vegetal flavor and some moisture to the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and helps keep the egg from sticking to the pan.

The step that matters

Pour eggs into a hot frying pan with butter. Eggs cook quickly in a hot pan, so the surface sets before it can brown or toughen. If the pan is too cool, the eggs stay runny and stick. Beating the eggs until very light traps air, which helps the omelet stay tender.

Swap the asparagus

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

  1. Asparagusthe original
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Potatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, 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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