Why it works: Lemon and parsley 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 ↓
Braiu Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Blanch and boil the brains until tender, then let them cool.
Cut the cooled brains into convenient pieces and coat them well in flour.
Prepare a frying batter of your choice.
Season the batter with herbs, cayenne, curry, or store sauce.
Optionally, add chopped onion, grated lemon peel, and chopped parsley to the batter.
Fry the coated brains in hot oil until golden brown.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Sauce + oniontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,474 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Onion + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,646 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sauce + parsleytop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,693 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sauce and onion barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,474 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
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, lemon, parsley):
- Shallotfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Kalefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, lemon, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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