Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 34,118 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the dumplings
In a bowl, combine cracker crumbs, salt, pepper, parsley, and baking powder.
Add butter and egg to the mixture and stir until well combined.
Form the mixture into marble-sized balls and place them on a platter to dry for about 2 hours.
Cook and serve
Strain the good soup stock and bring it to a boil.
Once ready to serve, add the balls to the boiling stock and cook for 5 minutes.
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.
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + buttertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together28,543 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Butter + eggtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together118,511 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Parsley + eggtop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together18,323 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).
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Pepper + buttertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together85,512 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg
- Binds the crumb mixture so the balls hold their shape.
- Cracker crumbs
- Provide the bulk and body of the dumplings.
- Baking powder
- Lightens the dumplings by releasing gas as they cook.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
The step that matters
Drying the dumplings before cooking. Letting the shaped balls dry for about 2 hours firms their surface so they hold together in the boiling stock rather than breaking apart or dissolving into the soup.
“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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