Name: Dinner
Ingredients: 6 oz. bread; 2 pints broth or soup; 4 oz. beef or mutton (cooked weight, free of bone); 4 oz. beefsteak (uncooked weight, trimmed and free of bone); 6 oz. mutton chop (uncooked weight, bone included); 1/5 part of a chicken; 8 oz. fresh fish (cleaned weight); 1 lb. potatoes (when in season)

Why it works: Beef and chicken match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,148 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Dinner

Ingredients

6 oz. bread
2 pints broth or soup
4 oz. beef or mutton (cooked weight, free of bone)
4 oz. beefsteak (uncooked weight, trimmed and free of bone)
6 oz. mutton chop (uncooked weight, bone included)
1/5 part of a chicken
8 oz. fresh fish (cleaned weight)
1 lb. potatoes (when in season)

Directions

Serve 6 oz of bread.
Prepare 2 pints of broth or soup.
Cook 4 oz of beef or mutton, ensuring it is free of bone.
Trim and cook 4 oz of beefsteak, ensuring it is free of bone.
Cook 6 oz of mutton chop, including the bone.
Use 1/5 part of a chicken.
Clean and cook 8 oz of fresh fish.
If in season, serve 1 lb of potatoes instead of bread.

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 + chickentop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,148 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,756 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).
Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,052 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Beef + muttontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,373 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Bread + fishtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,668 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef or mutton: Provides savory meat flavor and substantial protein-rich body to the dish.
Beefsteak: Contributes meaty flavor and a firm, chewy texture when cooked.
Mutton chop: Adds rich meat flavor, with the bone contributing savory depth during cooking.
Fresh fish: Adds delicate flavor and a tender, flaky texture when cooked.
Broth or soup: Supplies liquid and savory flavor that carries the whole dish.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, beef, mutton, chicken, fish):

Tomatofits about as well
Potatothe original
Onionfits about as well
Leekfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, beef, mutton, chicken, fish. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.