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Mussels Steamed in Beer with Crème Fraîche, Herbs, and Parmesan Croutons

By epicurious · From Open Recipes · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Parmesan cheese and beer share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 37 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By epicurious. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Parmesan cheese + beertop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together37 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together795 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Chive + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together370 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Parsley + tarragontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,259 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Tarragon + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together573 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the chervil

The recipe marks chervil as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, parmesan cheese, olive, parsley, chive, tarragon, mustard):

  1. Celeryabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Basilabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Chervilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, parmesan cheese, olive, parsley, chive, tarragon, mustard. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).