Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Sole Au Gratin
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the base
Cook the minced onion in a little butter for about 6 minutes.
Add the minced mushrooms and parsley, and cook for a few more minutes, adding salt and cayenne.
Place this mixture at the bottom of a fireproof dish.
Bake and serve
Lay the filleted soles over the mixture, dust with cayenne and salt, and pour in the white wine.
Cover with breadcrumbs and dot with small pieces of butter.
Bake for about 15 minutes, using a salamander or hot shovel to brown the crumbs if necessary.
Serve in the dish.
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 + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Mushroom + white winetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,765 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
-
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
-
White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Onion + parsleytop 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
- Soles
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking gently in the wine and steam beneath the crumbs.
- Mushrooms
- Add moisture and savory depth to the base as they release liquid during cooking.
- Onion
- Softens in butter to build a sweet, aromatic base for the fish.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and moisture, helping the fish cook gently and flavor the base.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp top that browns in the oven, adding texture contrast to the soft fish.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the breadcrumbs brown as it melts over the top.
The step that matters
Browning the crumbs. Breadcrumbs can dry out or burn before they colour, so watch them closely. Browning happens through the Maillard reaction at higher surface temperatures, so a salamander or hot shovel can finish the top if the oven does not brown it enough.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, parsley, white wine, pepper, butter):
- Shallotfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, parsley, white wine, pepper, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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