Name: Cornish Hen with Cherry-Hazelnut Wine Sauce
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons raw hazelnuts; 1 Cornish hen or other small hen (about 3/4 pound); 1/4 teaspoon kosher or coarse sea salt; 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice; 1 tablespoon fat-free Greek-style yogurt; 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil; 3 tablespoons Mulled Wine Syrup (page 7) made with red wine (or substitute 1/2 cup Pinot Noir or other fruity red wine plus 1/2 teaspoon sugar, or more to taste); 2 to 3 tablespoons dried cherries, preferably unsweetened; Freshly ground black pepper

Why it works: Hazelnut and wine work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and 75 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

2 tablespoons raw hazelnuts
1 Cornish hen or other small hen (about 3/4 pound)
1/4 teaspoon kosher or coarse sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon fat-free Greek-style yogurt
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons Mulled Wine Syrup (page 7) made with red wine (or substitute 1/2 cup Pinot Noir or other fruity red wine plus 1/2 teaspoon sugar, or more to taste)
2 to 3 tablespoons dried cherries, preferably unsweetened
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By epicurious. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Hazelnut + winetop 15% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together75 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Allspice + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together6,395 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Yogurt + olivetop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together2,633 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Olive + winetop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together5,163 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).
Olive + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together27,398 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (hazelnut, yogurt, olive, wine, pepper):

Thymebetter flavor fit
Garlicbetter flavor fit
Rosemarybetter flavor fit
Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against hazelnut, yogurt, olive, wine, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

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