Name: Fennel, Parsley, and Tarragon Sauces
Ingredients: 1 small bulb fennel; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 small bunch tarragon or parsley

Why it works: Fennel and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 134 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Fennel, Parsley, and Tarragon Sauces

Ingredients

1 small bulb fennel
2 tablespoons butter
1 small bunch tarragon or parsley

Directions

Blanch the fennel in boiling water for a few minutes.
Finely mince the blanched fennel and stir it into the butter.
For tarragon or parsley sauce, substitute minced tarragon or parsley for the fennel.

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.

Fennel + tarragontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together134 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Butter + tarragontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,572 recipes

Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Fennel + buttertop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together647 recipes

Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

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

What each ingredient does

Fennel bulb: Provides the main flavor and body of the sauce once minced and blended into the butter.
Butter: Carries the minced herb or fennel and adds richness and a smooth, fatty mouthfeel.