Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Hashed Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Trim the slices of meat.
Mix the chopped parsley, thyme, pepper, and salt with the bread crumbs.
Beat the egg slightly in a plate.
Fry and serve
Dip the slices of meat in the egg, then coat both sides with the bread crumbs.
Heat the butter or dripping in a pan until hot, then fry the meat until light brown.
Make a sauce with butter and flour, adding the lemon juice after removing from heat.
Arrange the meat on a serving dish and pour the sauce around it.
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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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,973 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Binds the bread crumb coating so it adheres to the meat during frying.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried.
- Butter or good dripping
- Fat for frying that adds richness and helps the coating brown.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances its richness.
The step that matters
Frying the coated meat until light brown. Heat must be high enough to hold the hot fat and brown the crumb coating quickly; if the pan is too cool, the coating absorbs fat and turns greasy and soggy rather than crisp.
“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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