Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Collops, Minced
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mince the meat very finely by hand.
Make the collops
Heat the butter in a sauté pan or frying pan.
Fry the onion until lightly browned.
Add the flour and fry for a minute.
Stir in the minced meat and cook for a few minutes.
Add the stock or water, bouquet-garni, and mushroom ketchup.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve
Serve on toast.
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 + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Thyme + mushroomtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,557 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,171 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rump steak
- Forms the main body of the dish; mincing it finely gives the collops a tender, even texture.
- Flour
- Cooked with the butter and onion, it thickens the stock into a light sauce that coats the meat.
- Butter
- Provides fat for frying the onion and meat, carrying flavour and helping them brown.
- Onion
- Browned in butter, it adds savoury sweetness and aroma to the base of the dish.
- Mushroom ketchup
- Adds deep savoury, umami flavour to the sauce.
The step that matters
Frying the flour. Frying the flour for a minute in the fat cooks out its raw taste and helps it thicken the liquid smoothly when stock is added, rather than leaving lumps or a floury flavour.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, thyme, mushroom, flour, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, thyme, mushroom, flour, pepper. 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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