Name: Omelette Aux Pommes De Terre
Ingredients: 2 boiled potatoes, chopped fine; 2 teaspoons of flour; 2 tablespoons of butter; 3 eggs; 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley; ¼ teaspoon of pepper; ¼ teaspoon of salt; 1 tablespoon of milk

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Omelette Aux Pommes De Terre

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the potatoes with their skins on, then let them cool before peeling.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a frying pan.
Add the chopped potatoes and cook, turning with a flat knife until nicely browned.
Stir in the parsley, pepper, and salt, then keep warm while making the omelet.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, egg, parsley, pepper, milk):

Shallotfits about as well
Chivefits about as well
Potatothe original
Capsicumfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, egg, parsley, pepper, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.