Name: Cauliflower Fritters
Ingredients: Cauliflower; Thick yellow or white sauce; Frying batter; Boiling fat; Fried parsley

Why it works: Cauliflower and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 233 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cauliflower Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the cauliflower until tender, about two-thirds cooked.
Divide the cauliflower into equal-sized pieces and dip each piece in the thick sauce.
Set the coated pieces aside to cool.
Carefully dip each piece in the frying batter until fully covered.
Fry in boiling fat until golden brown.
Serve with fried parsley.

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.

Cauliflower + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together233 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cauliflower + saucetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together463 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sauce + parsleytop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,693 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).