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Brain-cakes

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 887 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Brain-cakes

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Soak the brains in cold water, then blanch by boiling in water seasoned with vinegar and coarse sea salt.

  2. Once cooled, slice the brains and fry them in butter until golden brown.

  3. To make brain-cakes, beat the blanched brains into a smooth paste.

  4. Add shred sage, seasoning, and enough egg to achieve the right consistency.

  5. Fry the mixture until golden brown.

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.

  1. Lemon + sagetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Olive + sagetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,138 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Parmesan cheese + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, butter, parmesan cheese, egg, sauce, olive, lemon):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, butter, parmesan cheese, egg, sauce, olive, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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