Name: Eels Stewed
Ingredients: 6 or 7 large eels; finely chopped parsley; 1 shallot; wine (to taste)

Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Eels Stewed

Ingredients

6 or 7 large eels
finely chopped parsley
1 shallot
wine (to taste)

Directions

Cut the eels into pieces about 3 inches long.
In a saucepan, combine finely chopped parsley and shallot.
Pour the sauce over the eel pieces.
Add wine to taste just before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Shallot + winetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together841 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Parsley + winetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,400 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).