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 ↓
Breakfast Dish
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Assemble and bake
Layer the cut-up fowl in a baking dish, adding slices of bacon between the layers.
Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and chopped parsley.
Dissolve the gelatin in boiling water to make jelly and pour it over the top.
Cover and bake for 30 to 45 minutes.
Garnish with additional parsley before serving.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cooked fowl
- Provides the main body of the dish, with its protein setting firm as it heats through.
- Bacon
- Adds fat and savory flavor as it renders between the layers of meat.
- Gelatin
- Sets with boiling water into a jelly that holds moisture and gives the topping a firm, wobbly texture.
The step that matters
Dissolve the gelatin fully in boiling water. Gelatin only sets when it is completely dissolved and then cooled. Undissolved granules leave gritty pockets and a weak, uneven jelly.
“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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