Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Croquettes and Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Chop the chicken very fine and mix it with the brains.
Add the bread crumbs, chopped parsley, mace, and beaten eggs.
In a pan, melt the butter, then add flour until it bubbles.
Gradually stir in the cream, then add the chicken mixture, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
Stir until heated, remove from heat, and add lemon juice. Let cool.
Shape the mixture into croquettes and dip in beaten egg and bread crumbs.
Fry in hot lard until golden brown.
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 + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, butter, parsley, egg, bread, lemon, pepper):
- Nutmegfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, butter, parsley, egg, bread, lemon, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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