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Drest Cucumbers

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Drest Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Prepare cucumbers as for cucumbers au blanc.

  2. Blanch the cucumbers, then place them in a stewpan with a bit of butter and flour.

  3. Toss the mixture and add a little water, salt, and pepper.

  4. Reduce and let simmer.

  5. Just before serving, add hashed parsley and grated nutmeg.

  6. Thicken with egg yolks and cream, cooking without boiling.

  7. Dish and serve.

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.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Cucumber + parsleytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,564 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, pepper, parsley, nutmeg, egg, cream):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, pepper, parsley, nutmeg, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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