Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Eel in White Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the eel
Blanch the eel pieces in boiling water for a few minutes, then strain away the water.
Make the white sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour until smooth.
Gradually add the milk or water, stirring until it boils.
Season the sauce with salt, then add the blanched eel pieces.
Cook and serve
Simmer gently for 30 minutes until tender, checking with a skewer.
Stir in the lemon juice and chopped parsley before serving.
Serve the eel on a hot dish and pour the sauce around it.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eels
- Provide the main protein, which becomes tender through gentle simmering in the sauce.
- Butter
- Carries flavour and enriches the sauce, while melting it forms the base for the roux.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the sauce when cooked with melted butter, giving it a smooth, body-rich texture.
- Milk or water
- Forms the liquid of the sauce, which thickens as it heats and gives it a creamy or light body.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich, creamy sauce and balances its flavour.
The step that matters
Adding the milk or water gradually. Adding liquid slowly while stirring keeps the flour evenly dispersed, so the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps. Dumping it in at once makes the starch clump and resist blending.
Flavor stand-ins for the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, lemon):
- Cinnamonabout as good a flavor fit
- Nutmegabout as good a flavor fit
- Parsleythe original
- Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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