Name: Cutlets of Quails, a LA Marechale
Ingredients: quails; thin layers of fat bacon; parsley; white wine; coarse sea salt; black pepper

Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓

Cutlets of Quails, a LA Marechale

Ingredients

Directions

Split the quails in half and remove the bones.
Truss the quails and place them in a stewpan with layers of fat bacon underneath.
Add a faggot of parsley in the center and cover with more bacon.
Moisten with white wine and braise gently for about 45 minutes.
Prepare a rich Financiere ragout using the braising liquid.
Warm the quails, drain them, and place on a serving dish.
Garnish with the Financiere ragout and pour some sauce around the dish before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + white winetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,890 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
White wine + peppertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,433 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Quail + parsleytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together153 recipes

Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).
Quail + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together391 recipes

Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).