Why it works: Parsley and cauliflower match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 233 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
A Boiled Fowl
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare and cook
Fill a large pot with water and add a generous amount of coarse sea salt. Bring the water to a boil.
Carefully add the whole fowl to the boiling water.
Reduce heat and simmer until the fowl is cooked through, about 1 hour.
Remove the fowl from the pot and let it rest for a few minutes before carving.
Carve and serve
To carve, secure the fowl with a fork and remove the legs and wings.
Separate the meat and neck-bones, then cut the breast into portions.
Serve hot, garnished with parsley or cauliflower if desired.
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 + cauliflowertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together233 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Whole fowl
- Provides the meat that is cooked through in simmering water and then carved.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the fowl is flavoured as it cooks.
The step that matters
Reduce heat and simmer until cooked through. Keeping the water at a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil cooks the fowl evenly and keeps the meat tender instead of tough and stringy. Cooking time depends on the bird's size, so check that it is cooked through before removing it.
“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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