Name: Beignets De Poulet a LA Tartare
Ingredients: Pieces of cold chicken; Lard (for frying); Pepper; Coarse sea salt; Fritter batter (see below); Tartare sauce (see below); Fried parsley (for garnish)

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 ↓

Beignets De Poulet a LA Tartare

Ingredients

Directions

Cut the chicken into neat pieces, about 1x2 inches.
Heat enough lard in a pan to deep fry the chicken without touching the bottom.
Dip the chicken pieces into the fritter batter until well coated.
Drop the coated chicken into the boiling lard and fry until pale golden-yellow.
Remove the chicken and place on paper to drain until dry.
Serve in a pyramid on a cut paper or folded napkin, garnished with fried parsley.
Accompany with tartare sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,958 recipes

Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Chicken + parsleytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,314 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Chicken + saucetop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,513 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sauce + parsleytop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,693 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).