Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
To Boil Fowls
Ingredients
Directions
Fill a sauce or stewpan with enough water to cover the birds.
Bring the water to a boil, then add the butter, pepper, and salt.
Boil until well combined, then remove from heat and let it settle.
Add the fowls to the water and simmer until tender.
Remove the fowls, place them on a dish, and pour celery white sauce over them.
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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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Celery + saucetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,360 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + celerytop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, sauce):
- Parsleyfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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