Why it works: Parsley and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,843 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Eel Broth
Ingredients
Directions
Clean the eels and place them in a pot with water, parsley, onion, and peppercorns.
Simmer until the eels are broken and the broth is flavorful.
Add salt to taste and strain the broth.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Small eels
- Break down during simmering to release gelatin and rich, savory flavor into the broth.
- Onion
- Adds sweet, aromatic depth to the broth as it simmers.
The step that matters
Simmer until the eels are broken. Simmering gently extracts flavor and gelatin from the eels; a rolling boil can cloud the broth and make it greasy, so keep the heat low and steady.
“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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