Why it works: Butter and parsley 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 ↓
Cold Butter for Tea or Breakfast
Ingredients
Directions
Shape the butter into small pats or forms using a silver fork or crimping board.
Roll the butter on a cut pattern with a paste-pin.
Scoop with the bowl of a spoon, dipping the spoon in salt and water each time to form a shell.
Garnish with parsley if serving alone.
Serve with anchovies, potted meats, grated beef, tongue, or radishes.
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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Butter + parsleytop 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
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