Name: Macedoine of Fruit
Ingredients: wine or lemon jelly; bananas; berries; orange; blanched almonds

Why it works: Orange and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Macedoine of Fruit

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare a wine or lemon jelly mixture.
Fill a mold to a depth of ½ inch with the jelly and let it set until firm.
Layer sliced bananas, berries, bits of orange, and blanched almonds alternately with the jelly mixture.
Ensure each layer sets thoroughly before adding the next one.

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.

Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,125 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Banana + orangetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,118 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Banana + almondtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together377 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Wine + orangetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,046 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Wine + bananatop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together244 recipes

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