Name: Lyonnaise Potatoes
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon butter; 1 tablespoon butter (for frying); 6 whole boiled potatoes; 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lyonnaise Potatoes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon butter (for frying)
6 whole boiled potatoes
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Directions

Chop the onion finely and fry it in 1 tablespoon of butter until brown.
Add another tablespoon of butter to the pan and heat it until very hot.
Cut the boiled potatoes into thick (½ inch) slices and lay them in the pan without overlapping.
Fry the potatoes until brown on both sides, tossing occasionally to prevent burning.
Sprinkle the chopped parsley over the potatoes and serve immediately while hot.

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.

Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).