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 ↓
Mushroom Tartlets, with Cream
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Butter and flour the tartlet moulds, then line them with a thin layer of puff paste.
Finely slice the mushrooms and sauté them in a frying pan with butter and chopped shallots over medium heat for a few minutes.
Season the mixture with salt and pepper, then stir in chopped parsley.
Fill the tartlet moulds with the mushroom mixture and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until nearly done.
Beat the egg whites until frothy, then mix in the cold reduced cream sauce.
Remove the tartlets from the oven, pour a little cream mixture over each, and return them to the oven until browned.
Remove the tartlets from the moulds and serve on a napkin.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,982 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, butter, shallot, pepper, egg, cream, sauce):
- Capersfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, butter, shallot, pepper, egg, cream, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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