Name: Mustard Pi.aster
Ingredients: ½ cup mustard flour; ½ cup wheat flour; water or vinegar

Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Mustard Pi.aster

Ingredients

½ cup mustard flour
½ cup wheat flour
water or vinegar

Directions

Mix equal parts of mustard flour and wheat flour.
Add enough water or vinegar to make a moist paste.
Spread the paste on a piece of old muslin, leaving about an inch clear on the edge.
Fold the other half of the muslin over the paste.
Apply to the skin, ensuring it does not raise a blister; leave on until the skin reddens.
After removal, apply cold cream or lard on the area.

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.

Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Mustard + wheattop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together134 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,066 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Wheat + vinegartop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together254 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).