Modern Cookery

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.

1. Cucumber + parsleytop 7% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together1,564 recipes

   Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

3. Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together16,675 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

4. Cucumber + flourtop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together2,067 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

5. White pepper + parsleytop 14% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together1,451 recipes

   Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

Cucumbers

Form the main body of the sauce, softening into a tender vegetable base.

Egg yolks

Thicken the sauce and give it a rich, smooth body as they set with gentle heat.

Butter

Cooks the cucumbers and adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the sauce.

Flour

Optional thickener that stabilises the sauce's body after the vegetables have stewed.

The step that matters

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, parsley, egg, butter, flour):

1. Capersfits better
2. Tarragonfits better
3. Dillfits better
4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, parsley, egg, butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.