Why it works: Parsley and lemon 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 ↓
Collops of Eels a LA Foulette
Ingredients
Directions
Stew eels in a marinade.
Drain the eels and place them in the sauce for 10 minutes before serving.
If no sauce is available, make white stock with water or broth, parsley, green onions, pepper, salt, white onion, and mushrooms.
Boil the mixture for 30 minutes, then remove the parsley and onions.
Skim the sauce, mix in chopped parsley and lemon juice, and serve hot.
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 + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,626 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, pepper, mushroom, lemon):
- Shallotfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, pepper, mushroom, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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