Name: Omelette Aux Fines Herbes Au Jus
Ingredients: 4 large eggs; 2 tablespoons fresh herbs (such as parsley, chives, or tarragon); Salt to taste; Pepper to taste; 2 tablespoons butter; ½ cup gravy

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Omelette Aux Fines Herbes Au Jus

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

In a bowl, beat the eggs with salt and pepper.
Chop the fresh herbs and mix them into the eggs.

Cook the omelette

Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat until melted.
Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and cook until the edges set.
Gently lift the edges with a spatula, allowing uncooked eggs to flow underneath.
Once mostly set, fold the omelet in half and cook for another minute.
Serve hot with warm gravy poured over the top.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,765 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 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 omelette as they cook, giving it body and a tender texture.
Butter: Coats the skillet to prevent sticking and adds richness and flavour to the omelette.
Fresh herbs: Add fresh, aromatic flavour distributed evenly through the egg mixture.

The step that matters

Gently lift the edges with a spatula, allowing uncooked eggs to flow underneath.. Eggs set when their proteins coagulate under heat. Lifting the edges lets liquid egg reach the hot pan, so the omelette cooks evenly and stays tender rather than becoming rubbery or browned in patches.

“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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Omelette Aux Fines Herbes Au Jus