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Brain Canape

A fried appetizer made with calf brains, egg, cracker crumbs, and seasonings spread on bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓

Brain Canape

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the brains

  1. Remove the red membrane from the brains and soak them in cold water for 20 minutes.

  2. Drain and chop the brains finely.

Make and assemble

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped brains, egg, cracker crumbs, salt, pepper, and parsley.

  2. Spread a heaping tablespoon of the mixture on each round of bread.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the canapés in deep hot fat until golden brown.

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.

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.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Wheat + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together209 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Wheat + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together345 recipes

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

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. 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

What each ingredient does

Calf's brains
Form the main filling, giving the canapés their rich, soft body.
Egg
Binds the chopped brains together so the filling holds its shape.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb moisture and add body, helping the filling stay spreadable and firm.

The step that matters

Frying in deep hot fat. The fat must be hot enough to brown the outside quickly. If it is too cool, the canapés absorb excess fat and turn greasy before they turn golden.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Cinnamonfits less well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, wheat, bread, pepper. 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.

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