Name: LA Piquant Strawberries
Ingredients: large ripe strawberries; finely minced parsley; black pepper; sugar; whipped cream

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 ↓

LA Piquant Strawberries

Ingredients

Directions

Place large ripe strawberries in cut glass compotes.
Sprinkle finely minced parsley and a generous amount of black pepper over the strawberries.
Add a sprinkling of sugar.
Top with a mound of whipped cream.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together21,449 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Parsley + creamtop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,392 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Pepper + sugartop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,401 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Large ripe strawberries: Provide the main fruity flavor and juicy texture of the dish.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and draws out juice from the strawberries.
Black pepper: Adds a warm, sharp bite that contrasts with the sweet fruit.
Finely minced parsley: Adds a fresh, herbal aroma that lifts the fruit.
Whipped cream: Adds richness and a light, airy texture that softens the fruit's acidity.