Name: Truffles Baked in Shells
Ingredients: Truffles; Madeira wine; Butter; Fresh bread crumbs

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Truffles Baked in Shells

Ingredients

Truffles
Madeira wine
Butter
Fresh bread crumbs

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Cut the truffles into small pieces or slices.
Prepare a reduced Madeira wine sauce and mix the truffles into it.
Butter the shells and fill them with the truffle mixture.
Sprinkle fresh bread crumbs over the filled shells.
Place a small piece of butter on top of each shell.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until golden.
Serve on a napkin.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Truffle + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,209 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Truffle + madeira winetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together195 recipes
Truffle + breadtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together531 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Madeira wine + buttertop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together637 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).