Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Sardine Canape
Ingredients
Directions
Spread the desired number of circular pieces of toast.
Remove the skin, bones, and tail from the sardines and mash them with a small quantity of creamed butter.
Season the mixture with Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, and salt if needed.
Mix the egg yolk with an equal quantity of butter until creamy.
Pipe the egg yolk mixture around the edge of each canape using a pastry bag.
Slice small stuffed olives into rings and arrange them in the center of each canape.
Garnish with sprigs of 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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,649 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 (butter, sauce, pepper, egg, olive):
- Capersfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Tarragonfits less well
- Thymefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sauce, pepper, egg, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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