Name: Maitre D'hotel Butter
Ingredients: 1 ounce fresh butter; 2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley; 1 teaspoon finely chopped tarragon; 1 teaspoon finely chopped chervil; 1 teaspoon lemon juice; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Why it works: Butter and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 28,543 recipes mention both. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Make the herb butter

Knead the butter with the chopped parsley, tarragon, chervil, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and cayenne until well combined.
Spread the mixture on a plate and place it in the refrigerator to set.

Serve

Once set, stamp out small portions and use as a condiment with various dishes.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Butter + parsleytop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together28,543 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together795 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together14,036 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsley + tarragontop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together1,259 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Tarragon + lemontop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together884 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter: Provides the fat base that carries the herbs and sets firm when chilled.
Parsley: Adds fresh, green herbal flavor to the butter.
Tarragon: Contributes a distinct aniseed-like aroma.
Chervil: Adds a delicate, mild herbal flavor.

Flavor stand-ins for the chervil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, tarragon, lemon, pepper):

Thymebetter flavor fit
Marjorambetter flavor fit
Dillbetter flavor fit
Chervilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, tarragon, lemon, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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.