Why it works: Shallot and parsley 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 ↓
Morels Stuffed
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the morels
Wash and trim the morels, then parboil them for 15 minutes.
Immerse the parboiled morels in cold water and drain on a napkin.
Make the filling
Chop the trimmings and stems finely and cook in a saucepan with butter and shallots until moisture is reduced.
Let the mixture cool, then add the cooked forced meat and parsley.
Stuff and bake
Stuff the morels with the mixture and sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Arrange in a flat saucepan lined with fat pork slices and place a small piece of butter on each.
Moisten with broth and bake in the oven at 300°F (150°C) until browned.
Serve
Serve with a reduced Madeira wine sauce, adding chopped parsley.
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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Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,737 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Chicken + porktop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,417 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Shallot + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Bread + porktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,371 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Morels
- Main ingredient that is stuffed and carries the dish's earthy flavour.
- Cooked chicken or veal forced meat
- Binds the filling and gives it a rich, savoury body.
- Fresh bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture from the filling and help form a browned crust on top.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and helps the surface brown in the oven.
- Fat pork
- Lines the pan, basting the morels with fat and adding savoury flavour.
- Madeira wine
- Adds sweetness and depth to the reduced sauce served alongside.
The step that matters
Reduce the trimmings and stems until dry. Cooking off the moisture from the chopped trimmings concentrates their flavour and keeps the filling from making the stuffed morels soggy during baking.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, shallot, chicken, bread, pork, madeira wine):
- Thymefits better
- Capersfits about as well
- Garlicfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, shallot, chicken, bread, pork, madeira wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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