Senator McConnell's Kentucky Hot Brown

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.

1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together81,283 recipes

   Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together41,516 recipes

   Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

3. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together4,163 recipes

   Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

5. Milk + turkeytop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together281 recipes

   Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Flour

Forms a roux with the butter that thickens the milk into a sauce.

Butter

Fat that forms the base of the roux and adds richness to the sauce.

Milk

Liquid that becomes the body of the sauce once thickened.

Parmesan cheese

Adds savory, salty flavor and browns under the broiler.

Egg

Thickens the sauce gently when added off the heat.

The step that matters

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, parmesan cheese, egg, cream, turkey):

1. Nutmegfits better
2. Celeryfits better
3. Cinnamonfits better
4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, parmesan cheese, egg, cream, turkey. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.