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Savoury Omelette

A quick omelette made with eggs, butter, parsley or ham, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Savoury Omelette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Melt the butter in a small frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Add the parsley or ham and sauté briefly.

Cook the omelette

  1. Beat the eggs for 2-3 minutes, then season with salt and pepper.

  2. Pour the eggs into the frying pan and stir gently with a fork.

  3. When the eggs begin to set, shape them into an oval.

  4. Cook for 2 minutes, then hold the pan in front of the fire to lightly cook the top.

  5. Turn the omelette onto a hot plate and serve immediately.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Butter + peppertop 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 a delicate structure when heated, forming the body of the omelette.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour, and keeps the eggs from sticking to the pan.

The step that matters

Stirring the eggs gently and removing them as they begin to set. Gentle stirring creates small, tender curds, while overcooking makes the eggs tough and rubbery as the proteins tighten. Shaping the omelette once it begins to set lets the residual heat finish cooking it softly.

“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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