Name: Gravy for Pigeon Pie
Ingredients: 8 truffles, thinly sliced; 1 can of mushrooms, drained; cockscombs, trimmed; sweetbreads; quenelles; ½ pint second stock; 1 pint béchamel sauce; coarse sea salt; cayenne pepper

Why it works: Truffle and mushroom 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 ↓

Gravy for Pigeon Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Dry the trimmed items on a cloth and place them on a sieve.
In a two-quart saucepan, combine the truffles, mushrooms, cockscombs, sweetbreads, quenelles, and second stock.
Bring to a boil, then strain and dry on a cloth.
Return to the saucepan and pour in the béchamel sauce, seasoning with salt and cayenne.
Heat in a bain-marie for half an hour before serving.
Fill the vol-au-vent cases with the ragout and pour a little sauce around them before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Truffle + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,900 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Mushroom + saucetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,480 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Truffle + saucetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,490 recipes
Truffle + peppertop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,106 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).