Why it works: Parsley and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,675 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Parsley Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Combine 2 tablespoons of oil and 3 pints of water in a pot.
Add a bunch of parsley and bring to a boil.
Simmer for at least 30 minutes.
Brown the flour
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and 1/2 tablespoon of white flour in a frying pan over medium heat.
Stir continuously until the mixture turns golden brown.
Gradually add hot water to the browned mixture, stirring until it reaches a liquid consistency.
Finish and serve
Pour the mixture into the broth and let it boil together for 1 minute, then serve.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Parsley
- Provides the main green, herbal flavor of the soup.
- Oil
- Carries flavor and helps the flour brown evenly in the pan.
- White flour
- Thickens the soup as the browned mixture is stirred into the liquid.
The step that matters
Stir the flour until golden brown. Flour browns quickly over medium heat, and stirring keeps it from scorching. Burnt flour turns bitter and dark, which spoils the taste of the whole soup.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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