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 ↓
Haddock Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Clean, skin, and wash the haddocks. Remove the heads and tails, and cut the fish into two or three pieces.
Season the fish with minced onion, parsley, coarse sea salt, and black pepper.
Make forcemeat balls using the small boiled haddock.
Grease a dish with butter, then add the fish and forcemeat balls.
Pour in the white stock and white wine.
Roll out the puff pastry and place it around the edge of the dish, then cover the dish with more puff pastry.
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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Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + white winetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,535 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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 (haddock, parsley, pepper, butter, white wine):
- Potatofits better
- Shallotfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, parsley, pepper, butter, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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