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 ↓
Tomato Sandwiches
Ingredients
Directions
Soften the butter in a bowl.
Mix in the grated horseradish, chopped parsley, curry paste or powder, green herb puree, anchovy paste, bloater paste, and paprika pepper.
Spread the mixture on bread to make sandwiches.
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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Horseradish + parsleytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together562 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Horseradish + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,646 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,697 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Parsley + anchovytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,702 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the horseradish
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, anchovy, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Horseradishthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, anchovy, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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