Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Veal Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine chopped cold veal with coarse sea salt, black pepper, onion juice, celery salt, and parsley.
Moisten the mixture with beaten egg and white sauce, then shape it into rolls.
Roll each roll in bread crumbs, dip in beaten egg, and roll in crumbs again.
For the peas, pour off half the liquid from the can, add milk, and bring to a boil.
Season the peas with butter, pepper, and salt, then thicken slightly with flour.
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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Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, celery, parsley, egg, sauce, bread):
- Carrotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, celery, parsley, egg, sauce, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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