Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓
Black Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Stew the chopped onions in hog's lard.
Add the diced pork fat and the pig's blood, seasoned with parsley, pepper, salt, and allspice; mix well.
Fill and tie
Clean the puddings thoroughly, ensuring there are no holes.
Fill the puddings to your desired length and tie them securely with twine.
Boil and cool
Boil the puddings for 20 minutes; they are done when fat oozes out upon pricking.
Hang the puddings to cool; when ready to use, boil to warm, fry in thick slices, or serve cold in slices.
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 + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + allspicetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,289 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Onion + porktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pig's blood
- Sets when cooked, binding the filling into a firm, sliceable texture.
- Pork fat
- Adds richness and moisture, keeping the cooked pudding from drying out.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and savoury depth as they soften slowly in the lard.
- Hog's lard
- Carries the onion flavour and adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Clean the puddings thoroughly, ensuring there are no holes.. Any hole lets the liquid blood filling leak out during boiling, leaving the pudding dry and under-filled. Sound casings hold the filling in as it cooks and sets.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, parsley, pepper, allspice):
- Carrotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, parsley, pepper, allspice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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