Why it works: Parsley and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
A Sweet-bread Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pie crust and set aside.
Blanch the sweetbreads in boiling water, then chop them.
In a pot, combine chopped parsley, onions, chives, carrots, and peas.
Add the sweetbreads to the pot and season with salt and pepper.
If desired, add curry powder and serve with boiled rice.
Fill the prepared pie crust with the mixture and bake until golden.
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 + carrottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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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 + chivetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,150 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Onion + chivetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,907 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 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
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, onion, chive, carrot, pepper, rice):
- Black-eyed peafits better
- Chickpeafits better
- Beansfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, onion, chive, carrot, pepper, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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