Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Braized Ox-cheek, with Puree of Green-peas
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cheek
Bone the ox-cheek.
Soak the ox-cheek in cold water for 2 hours.
Parboil the ox-cheek in water for 5 minutes.
Immerse the ox-cheek in cold water.
Drain the ox-cheek.
Trim the ox-cheek.
Break up the bones.
Braise
Place the bones at the bottom of an oval stewpan.
Put the ox-cheek on top of the bones.
Garnish with carrot, onion, celery, parsley, cloves, mace, and peppercorns.
Moisten with broth or water.
Set to braise gently by the stove for about 2 hours.
Make the sauce and finish
Remove the ox-cheek.
Press the ox-cheek between two dishes.
Use half the broth to prepare a brown sauce.
Reduce the remainder to a half glaze.
Cut the ox-cheek into 12 equal pieces.
Shape the pieces.
Place the pieces in a sauté pan with the half-glaze.
Cover the pan.
Heat for 10 minutes 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.
-
Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ox-cheek
- Dense connective tissue that softens into tender, gelatinous meat during long, gentle braising.
- Broth or water
- Liquid that gently cooks the cheek and, reduced, becomes the brown sauce and glaze.
- Carrot, onion, celery
- Aromatic vegetables that flavour the braising liquid and sauce.
- Bones (in the method)
- Add gelatin and body to the braising liquid as they cook beneath the meat.
The step that matters
Gentle braising. Cooking at a low, steady simmer lets collagen in the cheek break down into gelatin without tightening the muscle fibres. Boiling hard toughens the meat and makes it stringy.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, onion, celery, parsley, clove):
- Thymefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Cuminfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, onion, celery, parsley, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
You might also like
Carrot Soup134 recipes
Cream of Celery Soup113 recipes
Celery Stew25 recipes
Celery Croquettes16 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.