Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓
White Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Heat the milk in a saucepan until boiling.
Mix the cornstarch with a little cold milk to form a slurry.
Stir the cornstarch mixture into the boiling milk.
Once thickened, add the butter, salt, pepper, and parsley.
Serve
Adjust thickness for serving with oysters or meats.
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.
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Corn + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together943 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the starch thickens into a smooth sauce.
- Corn starch
- Swells when heated in liquid, thickening the sauce to a creamy consistency.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Stir the cornstarch mixture into the boiling milk. Cornstarch must be fully dispersed in cold liquid first, or it clumps. Stirring it into hot milk while moving constantly keeps it smooth as the starch gelatinizes and thickens the sauce.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, corn, pepper, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Thymefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, corn, pepper, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
More white sauce recipes
You might also like
Corn Fritters203 recipes
Cream of Corn Soup50 recipes
Green Corn Soup46 recipes
Cornmeal Gruel41 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.