Why it works: Lemon and parsley 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 ↓
A Swiss Mayonnaise
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the butter to a cream.
Gradually add the butter to the pounded yolks of the eggs until smooth.
Slowly incorporate the salad oil until no particles remain visible.
Add a small amount of coarse sea salt and vinegar to taste.
Optionally, substitute some vinegar with fresh lemon juice and add a pinch of Cayenne.
Carve the boiled fowls neatly and trim the joints.
Layer the inferior parts on a large plate and spread a thick portion of the sauce over them.
Arrange the joints symmetrically over the sauce in a flat layer.
Build a pyramid with the fowl and decorate with egg whites and halved lettuce hearts.
Place the boiled eggs around the base, cutting a small slice from the large end to stand them upright.
Decorate with a sprig of parsley or other foliage.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,483 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,037 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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