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 ↓
Ho IV to Use Olive Butter
Ingredients
Directions
In a pot, bring the milk to a boil.
In a bowl, rub together the butter and flour until smooth.
Add the butter mixture to the boiling milk and stir for a few minutes.
Season the mixture with parsley, nutmeg, onion juice, salt, and cayenne.
Mix in the meat thoroughly and let it cool.
Once cool, form the mixture into croquettes.
Roll each croquette in egg, then in bread crumbs.
Fry the croquettes in boiling Olive Butter until golden brown.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 (parsley, nutmeg, pepper, milk, butter, flour, egg):
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Potatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, nutmeg, pepper, milk, butter, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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