Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓
Meat Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Mince the cold meat and place it in a bowl.
Mix in the herbs, parsley, pepper, salt, and mashed potatoes. Stir well.
Add the unbeaten egg.
Steam and serve
Transfer the mixture into a well-buttered basin lined with bread crumbs.
Cover the top with buttered paper.
Steam for 45 minutes.
Turn out and serve with brown gravy.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Meat + potatotop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together786 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold meat
- Forms the bulk of the pudding and gives it its main flavour.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture so it holds together when turned out.
- Mashed potatoes
- Adds moisture and softness to the mixture.
- Brown bread crumbs
- Line the basin, giving the outside a crumb coating that helps release the pudding.
The step that matters
Add the unbeaten egg. The egg is the binder, so it should be mixed in evenly without overworking the mixture. Stirring too vigorously can make the pudding dense and tough, while uneven mixing leaves loose pockets that fall apart when turned out.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, egg, bread, parsley, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, egg, bread, parsley, 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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