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Omelet

A simple omelet with milk, bread crumbs, eggs, butter, pepper, and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Bring the milk to a boil.

  2. Pour the boiled milk over the bread crumbs.

  3. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes.

  4. Break the eggs in a bowl.

  5. Stir the eggs until well mixed.

  6. Add the milk and bread mixture to the eggs.

  7. Season the mixture with pepper and salt.

  8. Mix well.

Cook the omelet

  1. Heat the butter in a frying pan until boiling hot.

  2. Pour the mixture into the pan.

  3. Fry slowly until the bottom is brown.

  4. Cut the omelet into squares.

  5. Turn the squares.

  6. Fry until lightly browned on both sides.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  3. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 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
Set into a firm, custard-like structure as they cook, holding the omelet together.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the hot milk and add body, giving the omelet a softer, more tender texture.
Milk
Softens the bread crumbs and adds moisture, keeping the omelet tender rather than dry.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the bottom brown in the hot pan.

The step that matters

Fry slowly until the bottom is brown. Egg proteins set and brown best over moderate heat. Cooking too hot scorches the bottom before the middle sets, while cooking too gently leaves the top runny.

“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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