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 ↓
Eel Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Clean the eels, removing all fat, and cut them into short pieces.
Fry the eel pieces in dripping for five minutes.
Drain the eels and place them in a saucepan with water and whole peppers.
Stew slowly for one hour or until tender, without breaking.
Strain through a colander, reserving the eels, and place them in a tureen lined with buttered toast strips.
Strain the soup back into the saucepan, heat, and stir in butter, flour, and parsley.
Bring to a boil, add the heated milk, and pour over the eels and toast.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, milk, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, milk, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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