Why it works: Mushroom and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Heart Sweetbreads of Veal a l'Imperial
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the sweetbreads in water for 1 hour to remove blood.
Boil the sweetbreads in water for 15 minutes, then place in cold water for 10 minutes.
Dry the sweetbreads on a cloth and make a 1-inch slit in each.
Carefully cut around the inside to form a pocket without cutting through.
Mix the quenelle of fowl and veal with chopped mushrooms and truffles, then fill each sweetbread with the mixture.
Use twine and a needle to close the openings in each sweetbread.
Mix the whole eggs and yolks together, then rub in a little flour.
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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Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,900 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Truffle + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,604 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Mushroom + flourtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,253 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mushroom + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,987 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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