Name: Cocido. Pot-au-feu.
Ingredients: 1½ pounds (750 g) lamb or veal; 1½ pounds (750 g) garbanzos or chickpeas; 1 slice of raw lean ham; pieces of game and poultry; small amount of bacon; coarse sea salt (to taste)

Why it works: Lamb and chickpea work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 60 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Cocido. Pot-au-feu.

Ingredients

1½ pounds (750 g) lamb or veal
1½ pounds (750 g) garbanzos or chickpeas
1 slice of raw lean ham
pieces of game and poultry
small amount of bacon
coarse sea salt (to taste)

Directions

In a large pot, add the meat and chickpeas.
Include the slice of ham and pieces of game and poultry.
Skim off any foam that forms on the surface.
Add a small amount of bacon and salt if necessary.

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.

Lamb + chickpeatop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together60 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Lamb + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together160 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Chickpea + hamtop 35% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).