Why it works: Parsley and lemon 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 ↓
Sweetbreads
Ingredients
Directions
Do not add water or gravy to the stewpan.
Place veal and bacon over the sweetbreads and season.
Cover tightly and cook with heat from above and below.
Once cooked, remove the sweetbreads.
Add a ladleful of gravy to the pan, boil, and strain it.
Skim off the fat and boil until it jellies.
Return the sweetbreads to the pan to glaze.
Serve on a dish with essence of ham underneath.
For a rich gravy, add mushrooms, truffles, morels, white wine, and ketchup.
Garnish with forced cockscombs stewed in gravy.
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 + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,900 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
-
Mushroom + white winetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,765 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
-
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
-
White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
More sweetbread recipes
You might also like
The 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.
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Mushroom Soup60 recipes
Veal Patties50 recipes
Beef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipes