Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,037 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Macaroni Savoury
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Cut the macaroni in small pieces.
Make a batter of the milk, eggs, and meal, mix into it all the other ingredients, pour it into a buttered pie-dish, cut up the butter in pieces and spread them on the top.
Bake
Bake the savoury for 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the batter into a firm, sliceable custard that holds the pie together.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that cooks with the eggs to form a creamy, tender custard.
- Onion
- Adds savoury aroma and depth of flavour as it mixes through the filling.
The step that matters
Baking until just set. Baking gently until the egg custard just sets keeps it smooth and moist. Overbaking makes egg proteins tighten and squeeze out liquid, leaving the pie dry and grainy.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, parsley, nutmeg, egg, lemon, pepper):
- Spinachbetter flavor fit
- Shallotbetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, parsley, nutmeg, egg, lemon, pepper. 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.
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