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 ↓
Chicken Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the chickens into small pieces and boil in water until tender, skimming while boiling.
Remove the breast bone and add the onion, parsley, pepper, and salt.
Stir in the butter until melted.
Beat the eggs and mix in the sweet cream.
Line a 5-quart pan with the biscuit crust, then pour in the chicken mixture.
Cover with more crust, leaving a vent.
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.
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Onion + biscuittop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together428 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,814 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, pepper, butter, egg, cream, biscuit):
- Capersfits about as well
- Garlicfits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, pepper, butter, egg, cream, biscuit. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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