Name: Dinner
Ingredients: 4 to 6 ounces of boiled or roasted fat beef; meat gravy; 1 to 2 fresh vegetables; salads; fresh or dried fruits; light wine; black tea without milk or sugar

Why it works: Beef and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,533 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Dinner

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Prepare a meat soup or broth.

Main course

Boil or roast the beef until cooked through.
Serve the beef with meat gravy that is not thickened.
Select 1 to 2 fresh vegetables and prepare them in moderation.

Dessert and drinks

For dessert, serve salads and fresh or dried fruits.
Offer a little light wine and black tea without milk or sugar.

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.

Beef + meattop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,533 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Wine + black teatop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Beef + winetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,372 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).
Beef + black teatop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Meat + winetop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together754 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).