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White Collops and Cucumbers

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

White Collops and Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Flatten the collops to about half the size of a piece of toast and place them on a buttered baking sheet.

  2. Cook them over a stove for a few minutes, turning them until done.

  3. Remove from heat and set aside.

  4. Cut the cucumbers into quarters and remove the seeds.

  5. Slice each quarter into two pieces and soak in a mixture of vinegar, water, pepper, and coarse sea salt for about an hour.

  6. In a stewpan, combine the cucumbers with a few spoonfuls of stock and a bit of butter.

  7. Cook gently until the cucumbers are tender, then add them to the collops.

  8. Before serving, sprinkle the collops with finely chopped shallot and parsley.

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.

  1. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Cucumber + shallottop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together264 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Cucumber + parsleytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,564 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, butter, vinegar, pepper, parsley, shallot):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, butter, vinegar, pepper, parsley, shallot. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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