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 ↓
Chicken Salad {Car Erne's Receipt)
Ingredients
Directions
Fry or roast the pullets until cooked, then let them cool.
Cut the pullets into pieces, skinning and trimming them neatly.
In a tureen, combine the chicken pieces with salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, parsley, and sliced onion.
Mix well, cover, and let it stand for several hours.
Before serving, drain the salad and remove all bits of onion.
Arrange the salad on lettuce leaves, placing the hearts on top, and cover with Mayonnaise dressing.
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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Parsley + lettucetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,483 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,562 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,037 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, vinegar, parsley, lettuce):
- Mustardfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, vinegar, parsley, lettuce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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