Name: Scrapple
Ingredients: pigs' heads; pigs' feet; corn meal; salt; marjoram; thyme; white pepper

Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Scrapple

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the pigs' heads and feet until the bones are free.
Pick the meat into small pieces.
Mix the meat with corn meal.
Recook the mixture for 15 minutes.
Season with salt, marjoram, thyme, and white pepper.
Pour into molds and let cool.
Once cold, turn out and slice.
Fry slices in a skillet 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.

Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,225 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Corn + marjoramtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together89 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Corn + thymetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together364 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Marjoram + white peppertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together134 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Thyme + white peppertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together443 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).