Name: Hungarian or Presburg Zwieback
Ingredients: 5 egg whites; 1 pound powdered sugar; chopped almonds; stale rusk or buns (optional); plain sponge cake mixture (optional); aniseed (optional)

Why it works: Sugar and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Hungarian or Presburg Zwieback

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Shape the dough into long fingers, making the ends larger than the center, similar to ladyfingers.
Proof the dough and bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
Cut the zwieback in half and dry-toast it.
Prepare a light meringue icing by beating the egg whites until stiff.
Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix in the chopped almonds.
Spread the icing on the toasted side of the zwieback.
Return the zwieback to the oven to dry.

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.

Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + almondtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).