Name: Fried Parsnips
Ingredients: Parsnips; Coarse sea salt; 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley or chervil; Juice of 2 lemons; Light batter (for dipping); Lard (for frying); Fried parsley (for garnish)

Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Fried Parsnips

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the parsnips as described in the previous recipe.
Drain the cooked parsnips and place them in a bowl.
Season with coarse sea salt, chopped parsley or chervil, and lemon juice.
Dip the seasoned parsnips in a light batter.
Fry the battered parsnips in hot lard until golden.
Serve on a napkin and garnish with fried 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.

Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsnip + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together484 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Parsnip + lemontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together172 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).