Name: Salmis De Cailles a LA Bordelaise
Ingredients: 8 quails; 1/2 cup Sauterne wine; 4 egg yolks; 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley; 1 shallot, finely chopped and blanched; 1 tablespoon butter; truffles, for garnish; mushrooms, sliced, for garnish

Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Salmis De Cailles a LA Bordelaise

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare 8 quails as previously described, substituting red Burgundy wine with Sauterne.
After reducing the sauce, thicken it with 4 egg yolks.
Just before serving, add finely chopped parsley, blanched shallot, and butter to the sauce.
Plate the dish as previously described, garnishing with truffles and sliced mushrooms.

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.

Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,982 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Truffle + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,900 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Wine + mushroomtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,632 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

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

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (quail, wine, egg, shallot, butter, truffle, mushroom):

Thymefits about as well
Capersfits about as well
Tarragonfits about as well
Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against quail, wine, egg, shallot, butter, truffle, mushroom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.