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 ↓
Pigs in Blankets
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Season the oysters with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Cut the bacon into nice slices.
Wrap each oyster in a slice of bacon and fasten with a skewer.
Cook and serve
Heat a frying pan until very hot and add the wrapped oysters.
Cook for about two minutes, just long enough to crisp the bacon.
Place the cooked oysters on small pieces of toast.
Do not remove the skewers and serve hot, garnished with parsley.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,663 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Oyster + parsleytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,211 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
- Large oysters
- Provide the central filling, cooking quickly to stay tender and moist.
- Fat bacon
- Renders fat in the hot pan, crisping its surface and flavouring the oyster.
The step that matters
Cook for about two minutes in a very hot pan. The bacon must crisp quickly while the oyster cooks only briefly. Oysters turn rubbery when overcooked, so a short, very hot sear keeps them tender while the bacon browns.
“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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