Name: Liver and Parsley Sauce for Poultry
Ingredients: one tablespoonful of minced parsley; 1/2 pint of melted butter; 1/2 pint of smoothly-made melted butter; 3/4 pint of melted butter; 1 tablespoonful of anchovy sauce; 3 tablespoonfuls of cream; 3/4 pint of melted butter by recipe; 4 tablespoonfuls of béchamel; 1 slice of minced ham; 1 clove of garlic; 3/4 pint of water; 1/4 teaspoonful of pounded sugar; 6 tablespoonfuls of salad-oil; 4 tablespoonfuls of vinegar; 1 tablespoonful of white stock; 2 tablespoonfuls of cream; 1/4 pint of vinegar; a small bunch of parsley; 1 middling-sized hen lobster; 6 persons; 2 dessertspoonfuls of minced parsley; 1 large lemon; 2 shalots; 1 bay-leaf; 1 dessertspoonful of flour; 1 heaped tablespoonful of chopped parsley; 1/2 large lemon; 1/2 pint; 1/2 calf's head; 2 minced shalots

Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

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.

Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,768 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,787 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Liver (in the method): Forms the body of the sauce, giving it its rich, savoury flavour and texture.
Melted butter: Provides the fat base that carries the minced liver and parsley and gives the sauce its smooth richness.
Parsley: Adds fresh, green herbal aroma that cuts through the richness of the butter and liver.

The step that matters

Let it just boil. Once the liver and parsley are in the butter, bringing the sauce to a gentle boil is enough to heat it through. Boiling it hard can cause the butter to separate and the sauce to turn greasy and grainy.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, butter, anchovy, sauce, cream, ham, garlic):

Capersfits better
Thymefits better
Tarragonfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, butter, anchovy, sauce, cream, ham, garlic. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Anchovy	100g	210
Ham	100g cooked	145
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mint	2 tbsp fresh (3g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Mace	not in our table	0

Liver and Parsley Sauce for Poultry