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 ↓
Potato Rissoles
Ingredients
Directions
Wash, peel, and boil the potatoes until tender. Drain and pass them through a wire sieve.
In a bowl, season the potatoes with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the egg yolks, cream, and chopped parsley. Mix until smooth.
Shape the mixture into small patties (rissole shapes).
Coat each patty in beaten egg and then breadcrumbs.
Heat oil in a pan and fry the rissoles until golden brown.
Drain on a cloth and serve on a folded napkin or paper, garnished with fried parsley.
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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Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 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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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,052 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, nutmeg, egg, cream, parsley):
- Spinachfits better
- Carrotfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, nutmeg, egg, cream, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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