Why it works: Parsley and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 28,563 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Fried Parsley
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the parsley for crisping and ensure it is completely dry.
Fry and drain
Heat plenty of lard or butter in a pan until just boiling.
Add the parsley to the hot fat and fry until crisp.
Remove the parsley with a skimmer and drain on a cloth placed over a sieve.
Position the sieve in front of the fire to keep warm.
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 + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Parsley
- Its leaves crisp in hot fat, becoming brittle and light while retaining a fresh herbal aroma.
- Lard or butter
- Hot fat fries the parsley quickly, driving off moisture and crisping the leaves.
The step that matters
Drying the parsley before frying. Any water on the leaves turns to steam when it hits hot fat, which can splatter violently and make the parsley soggy instead of crisp. Thorough drying lets the leaves fry evenly and crisp properly.
“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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