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To Roast Eels

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

To Roast Eels

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Ensure eels are lively and have a silvery belly and slate back.

  2. Kill the eels and roast them over hot coals until the skin crisps and rubs off.

  3. Remove the skin, head, fins, and gut the eels.

  4. Wash the eels and optionally stuff them.

  5. Skewer the eels and place them in a stewpan with rich sauce and wine.

  6. Cook until half done, then wrap in paper and fix to a spit.

  7. Remove the paper, glaze the eels, and serve with the reduced sauce.

  8. Alternatively, place in a deep dish, pour over cream butter sauce, and add parsley, scallions, shallots, and mushrooms.

  9. Strew breadcrumbs and parsley powder over the top, then bake until golden.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Wine + mushroomtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,632 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  5. Cream + buttertop 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 parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, wine, cream, butter, shallot, mushroom):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, wine, cream, butter, shallot, mushroom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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