Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 34,122 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Sauce A-LA-creme, for the Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Put a quarter of a pound of butter, with a large tablespoonful of flour rubbed well into it, in a saucepan.
Add some chopped parsley, a little onion, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a gill of cream.
Stir it over the fire until it begins to boil.
Assemble and bake
Pour it over the eggs.
Cover the top with grated bread.
Set it in a Dutch oven with a heated top.
When it is light brown, serve it.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Provides fat and richness, forming the base that carries the sauce's flavour.
- Flour (in the method)
- Rubbed into the butter, it thickens the sauce as it heats.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and a smooth, silky texture to the sauce.
The step that matters
Stir the sauce as it heats. Flour mixed into butter can form lumps if the liquid goes in unevenly or the mixture is not stirred. Constant stirring lets the starch swell and thicken into a smooth sauce as it approaches boiling.
Flavor stand-ins for the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream, pepper, nutmeg):
- Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
- Parsleythe original
- Allspiceabout as good a flavor fit
- Tarragonabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, pepper, nutmeg. 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).
“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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.