Name: Eel Alla Milanese
Ingredients: 1 large eel; 2 ounces butter; 1 tablespoon flour; 1 cup stock; 4 ounces Chablis wine; 1 bay leaf; Salt to taste; Pepper to taste; a medley of vegetables (e.g. carrots , cauliflower , celery , beans , tomatoes , etc.)

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Eel Alla Milanese

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eel

Cut the eel.
Fry it in butter until a good colour.

Make the sauce

Add flour, stock, wine, bay leaf, pepper, and salt.
Boil until well cooked.
Separately boil the vegetables.
Take out the pieces of eel and keep them hot.
Pass the liquor that forms the sauce through a sieve, and add the vegetables to it.

Assemble and serve

Let the vegetables boil a little longer in the liquor, then arrange them in a dish.
Place the pieces of eel on the vegetables.
Cover with the liquor.
Serve very hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

818Calories

19 gProtein

28 gFat

121 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 13 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Eel	not in our table	0
Bean	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Cauliflower + beanstop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together290 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Carrot + beanstop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,443 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Eel: Provides the main protein; frying in butter gives it colour and a savoury crust.
Butter: Fat that browns the eel and carries flavour into the dish.
Flour: Thickens the cooking liquid into a sauce.
Chablis wine: Adds acidity and aroma that balance the richness of the butter and sauce.
Stock: Forms the liquid base of the sauce and adds savoury depth.
Vegetables: Add texture and freshness alongside the eel and sauce.

The step that matters

Fry the eel until a good colour. Browning in butter builds flavour through the Maillard reaction. If the eel is crowded or the heat is too low, it steams and turns pale, losing that savoury depth before the sauce is made.

Swap the cauliflower

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, wine, pepper, carrot, celery, beans):

Parsnipfits better
Turnipfits better
Tomatofits better
Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, wine, pepper, carrot, celery, beans. 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.

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Carrot Soup134 recipes

Cream of Celery Soup113 recipes

Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes

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Eel Alla Milanese