Name: To Make an Ollo--a Spanish Dish
Ingredients: two pounds beef; one pound mutton; a small piece of pork; a handful of mint chopped; ten o'clock; half after twelve; three apples; three o'clock; half after two

Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓

To Make an Ollo--a Spanish Dish

Ingredients

Directions

Start the stew

Take two pounds beef, one pound mutton, a chicken, or half a pullet, and a small piece of pork; put them into a pot with very little water, and set it on the fire at ten o'clock, to stew gently.
Sprinkle over the mixture an onion chopped small, some pepper and salt, before you pour in the water.

Add the vegetables and finish

At half after twelve, put into the pot two or three apples or pears, peeled and cut in two, tomatoes with the skin taken off, cimblins cut in pieces, a handful of mint chopped, lima beans, snaps, and any kind of vegetable you like.
Let them all stew together till three o'clock.
Add celery tops cut small at half after two, which will improve it much.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

587Calories

54 gProtein

29 gFat

25 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 5 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Pork	100g cooked	242
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Mutton	not in our table	0
Peppermint	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mary Randolph. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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 + porktop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,690 recipes

Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
Beef + muttontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,373 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mutton + porktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,239 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
Pork + appletop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,581 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Mint + appletop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together203 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef: Long gentle stewing breaks down connective tissue, leaving the meat tender and enriching the broth.
Mutton: Slow simmering softens its fibres and adds a richer, fuller meat flavour to the stew.
Pork: Its fat renders slowly into the broth, adding body and savour to the stew.
Apples: They soften during stewing, adding gentle sweetness and a fruity note that balances the meat.