Why it works: Parsley and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 28,563 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
To Crisp Parsley
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick and wash the parsley, then dry it by swinging it in a cloth.
Place the parsley on a sheet of paper in a toaster before the fire.
Dry and crisp
Turn the parsley frequently until crisp, about 6 to 8 minutes.
Fry and drain
For frying, heat lard or butter until just boiling.
Add the dried parsley and fry until crisp, then remove with a slotted spoon.
Place the fried parsley on paper to drain.
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 + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Parsley
- Its thin leaves crisp quickly as their moisture cooks off, leaving a brittle, crunchy texture.
- Lard or butter
- Hot fat fries the dried leaves quickly, crisping them and adding a rich flavour.
The step that matters
Drying the parsley before frying. Any water left on the leaves turns to steam in hot fat and makes it spatter and steam rather than crisp. Thorough drying lets the leaves fry crisp and stay green.
“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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