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 ↓
Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
Directions
Cut off the tops of the peppers and scoop out the insides.
Chop the veal very fine and mix with salt, some of the pepper insides, butter, chopped parsley, and cream.
Stuff the peppers with the mixture.
Place a small lump of butter on top and sprinkle with cracker crumbs.
Heat thoroughly and serve hot on a napkin.
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.
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Veal + parsleytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,766 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + vealtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, veal, butter, cream):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Sagefits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, veal, butter, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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