Name: Omelette a L'espagnole
Ingredients: 6 eggs; 1 small onion or ½ clove of garlic, finely chopped; 3 tablespoons of milk; 1 medium-sized tomato, chopped; ¼ pound of bacon, finely chopped; ½ teaspoon of flour; 2 tablespoons of butter; 5 mushrooms, chopped; Salt and pepper to taste

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 ↓

Omelette a L'espagnole

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

Fry the bacon in a pan until brown.
Add the chopped tomato, mushrooms, and finely chopped onion or garlic; stir over heat for 15 minutes.

Make the omelette

Separate the egg whites and yolks.
Beat the yolks and mix in salt, pepper, flour, and milk.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites until smooth.
Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat.
Pour in the egg mixture.
After a minute or two, loosen the edges with a knife.
When nearly set, add the tomato mixture on top.
Fold the omelet over.
Serve immediately on a hot platter.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,719 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Whites are beaten and folded in for air, giving the omelette its light, soft structure.
Milk: Adds moisture and softness to the egg mixture, keeping the omelette tender.
Bacon: Fat rendered from the bacon adds savory flavor and richness to the filling.
Tomato: Adds moisture and acidity to the filling, balancing the richness of the eggs and bacon.
Mushrooms: Add earthy flavor and moisture to the filling as they cook down.
Butter: Fat for the pan that adds flavor and keeps the omelette from sticking.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. Beaten whites hold air bubbles that give lift. Stirring or deflating them vigorously knocks the air out, leaving a dense, flat omelette.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, tomato, flour, butter, mushroom, pepper):

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits better
Asparagusfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, tomato, flour, butter, mushroom, pepper. 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.

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes

Tomato Bisque61 recipes

Mushroom Soup60 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Omelette a L'espagnole