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Plain Omelet

A simple egg omelet with optional ingredients.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Plain Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Break the eggs into a cup one by one to check for spoilage.

  2. Transfer the eggs to a bowl and whisk them for 12 beats.

Cook the omelet

  1. Melt the butter in a clean, smooth frying pan until it begins to boil.

  2. Pour the eggs into the pan and use a spatula to lift the edges as they set.

  3. Shake the pan occasionally to prevent scorching.

  4. When the edges are firm and the center is creamy, fold the omelet in half.

Serve

  1. Serve immediately on a hot platter, or place in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 1 minute to brown the top.

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. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  4. Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

  5. Mushroom + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,132 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into the structure of the omelet as heat coagulates their proteins.
Butter
Coats the pan to prevent sticking and adds rich flavor and browning.

The step that matters

Lifting the edges as the eggs set. Eggs set quickly over heat. Lifting the edges lets the still-liquid egg flow underneath so the omelet cooks evenly and stays tender rather than rubbery or scorched.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, ham, mushroom, cream, parsley, fish):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, ham, mushroom, cream, parsley, fish. 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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