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 ↓
Green Corn Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Place the fowl or veal in a pot with 1 gallon of cold water and cover tightly.
Simmer slowly until the meat slips from the bones, avoiding boiling.
Set aside 1 cup of the broth.
Strain the soup to remove bones and meat scraps.
Make the soup
Grate the corn and scrape the cobs to extract the heart of the kernels.
Add the grated corn, salt, pepper, and parsley to the soup and simmer for 30 minutes.
Mix 1 tablespoon of flour with 1 tablespoon of butter until smooth.
Add the flour-butter mixture to the soup.
Make the dressing and serve
Heat the reserved broth.
Beat 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of flour.
Add the egg mixture to the broth with salt, pepper, and chopped parsley.
Arrange the meat on a dish.
Pour the hot dressing over the meat.
Serve immediately.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together943 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
What each ingredient does
- Fowl or veal
- Gives the broth its body and flavor as it simmers slowly.
- Green corn
- Supplies the sweet flavor and body of the soup when grated.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup and the dressing, giving them a smoother body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor into the thickening and dressing.
- Egg
- Enriches and thickens the hot dressing as it cooks gently in the broth.
The step that matters
Simmer slowly without boiling. Boiling toughens meat and clouds the broth, while gentle simmering lets collagen soften so the meat slips from the bones and the broth stays clear.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, corn, pepper, flour, butter, egg):
- Parsleythe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Turmericfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, corn, pepper, flour, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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