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 ↓
Forcemeat for Veal, Turkeys, Fowls, Hare
Ingredients
Directions
Shred the ham or bacon and liver, and chop the suet, lemon peel, and herbs very fine.
Add salt, cayenne, and mace to taste, then blend all ingredients thoroughly with the bread crumbs before wetting.
Beat and strain the eggs, then mix them with the other ingredients until well combined.
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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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Parsley + macetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,268 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Parsley + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,588 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 mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, ham, lemon, parsley, bread, egg):
- Marjoramfits better
- Thymefits better
- Capersfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against liver, ham, lemon, parsley, bread, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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