Name: Mary Jordan
Ingredients: one-quarter pound almonds blanched; a teaspoon of maze; one large chicken; one-half loaf of dry bread; two well beaten eggs; parsley; salt; pepper

Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓

Mary Jordan

Ingredients

Directions

POULTRY DRESSING— For one large chicken, grate one-half loaf of dry bread, add a few crackers rolled fine, two well beaten eggs, an eighth of a teaspoon of maze, a few sprigs of parsley chopped fine, large tablespoon butter, season with salt and pepper, add one-quarter pound almonds blanched and chopped and enough milk and water mixed to make dressing quite soft.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

712Calories

51 gProtein

11 gFat

98 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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

By Paidar, Marie, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. See the original page.

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 + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Almond + parsleytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together548 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,258 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,588 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, bread, egg, parsley, pepper):

Chickpeafits better
Beansfits better
Peasfits better
Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, bread, egg, parsley, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.