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 ↓
Fried Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Heat a good quantity of oil or butter in a shallow pan until it boils.
Carefully break the eggs into the hot oil or butter.
Fry the eggs until the whites are crisp.
Serve on a platter and garnish with 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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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,765 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Provide the main body of the dish; the whites set and crisp in the hot fat.
- Oil or butter
- Conducts heat to cook the eggs and gives the whites a crisp, browned edge.
The step that matters
Breaking the eggs into the hot fat. Eggs dropped into fat that is not hot enough spread out and cook unevenly, while careful pouring keeps the yolks intact and the whites compact.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Capersfits about as well
- Tarragonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against 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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