Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓
Friars Omelet
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the apple sauce
Peel, quarter, and stew the apples with just enough boiling water to prevent scorching.
Press the cooked apples through a colander while still hot.
Stir in the butter and sugar.
Set the apple mixture aside to cool.
Prepare the mold and crumbs
Melt the butter in a frying pan.
Stir in the bread crumbs until absorbed and golden-brown.
Butter a pudding mold.
Sprinkle the bottom and sides of the mold with the bread crumbs.
Assemble and bake
Beat the eggs until light.
Stir the beaten eggs into the apple sauce.
Add lemon juice to taste.
Fill the mold with the mixture, being careful not to rub off the crumbs.
Sprinkle the top thickly with bread crumbs.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
Unmold and serve
Loosen the edges with a knife.
Turn out carefully onto a flat dish.
Serve hot with rum or brandy sauce in a sauceboat.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Apple + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,790 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 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
- Apples
- Cooked into a soft sauce that forms the body and sweetness of the omelet.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to bind the apple sauce into a light, sliceable custard.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor, and helps the crumbs brown in the pan.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apple sauce and balances the tartness of the apples.
- Bread crumbs
- Browned crumbs coat the mold and top, adding a crisp, nutty crust.
The step that matters
Folding the beaten eggs into the cooled apple sauce. If the apple sauce is still hot when the eggs go in, the eggs can scramble and lose the light texture that beating was meant to create. Cooling it first keeps the eggs smooth and able to set evenly during baking.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, bread, egg, lemon):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, bread, egg, lemon. 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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