Why it works: Apple and asparagus work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 80 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Fancy Omelet
Ingredients
Directions
Crack three or four eggs into a bowl and beat them well.
For the plain omelet, pour the eggs into a hot skillet and cook until set.
For the herb omelet, add chopped fresh herbs to the beaten eggs before cooking.
For the apple omelet, peel and slice apples, then add them to the beaten eggs before cooking.
For the asparagus or sorrel omelet, chop the asparagus or sorrel and mix it into the beaten eggs before cooking.
Serve all omelets on the same dish, layering them one over the other.
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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Apple + asparagustop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together80 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Egg + asparagustop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,338 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + appletop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,461 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the apple
The recipe marks apple as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, asparagus):
- Lemonfits better
- Avocadofits better
- Pumpkinfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, asparagus. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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