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Foamy Omelet with Ham

A light, airy omelet folded with ham, cooked slowly and finished in the oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Foamy Omelet with Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs into two bowls.

  2. Add salt and pepper to the yolks, then beat until light.

  3. Stir in the milk.

  4. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then gently fold them into the yolk mixture.

Cook and serve

  1. Grease a pan with butter and pour in the mixture.

  2. Cook slowly until the underside is brown, about 2 minutes.

  3. Transfer the pan to the oven for 1 minute to cook the top.

  4. Broil the ham until well done.

  5. Run a knife around the omelet to loosen it, place the ham on one half, and fold the other half over.

  6. Tip the omelet onto a hot platter and serve immediately.

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. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

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

  3. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

  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

Eggs
Whites beaten to stiffness trap air, giving the omelet its light, airy structure.
Milk
Adds moisture and dilutes the egg proteins, keeping the omelet tender rather than rubbery.
Ham
Provides savory flavor and filling; it is the main contrast to the mild eggs.
Butter
Greases the pan to prevent sticking and adds richness and browning on the underside.

The step that matters

Fold the whites gently. Beaten egg whites hold air only while intact. Vigorous stirring deflates them, which makes the omelet dense instead of light and fluffy.

“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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