Why it works: Lamb and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,322 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
To Dress Lamb’s Fry
Ingredients
Directions
Skin the stones and split them. Lay them on a cloth to dry with the livers and sweetbreads.
Dredge the meat well with flour.
Heat the lard or dripping until boiling, then add the meat pieces.
Once cooked, place the meat on a sieve to drain.
Fry a good quantity of parsley until crispy.
Arrange the meat in a dish, topping it with the fried parsley.
Pour melted butter around the dish before serving.
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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Lamb + parsleytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,322 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Lamb + livertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together145 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and butter 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
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, liver, flour, butter):
- Capersfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Nutmegfits less well
- Cinnamonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, liver, flour, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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