Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓
Stuffed Bell Peppers, Brazilian Style
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the filling
Prepare the bell peppers as in the previous recipe.
In a saucepan, melt the butter and add the chopped onion. Cover and simmer until half cooked.
Add the chopped mushrooms and green peppers to the onion and simmer until the moisture is reduced.
Stir in the Allemande sauce, bread crumbs, salt, nutmeg, parsley, and garlic. Mix well while adding the egg yolks.
Stuff and bake
Stuff the prepared peppers with the mixture and cover each with a slice of fat pork.
Arrange the stuffed peppers in a buttered flat saucepan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C).
Serve with a brown Italian sauce.
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.
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Bind the filling together and help it set lightly when baked.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and give the filling body so it holds its shape.
- Mushrooms
- Add savory, earthy flavor and moisture that cooking down concentrates.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries the flavor of the cooked onion.
- Fat pork
- Bastes the peppers as it renders, adding moisture and savory flavor.
The step that matters
Simmer the mushrooms and peppers until the moisture is reduced. Excess water from the vegetables would thin the filling and make it soggy, so the filling needs to be reduced before the sauce, crumbs and egg yolks are added.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, mushroom, sauce, bread, nutmeg, parsley):
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, mushroom, sauce, bread, nutmeg, parsley. 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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