Name: Cucumber Aspic
Ingredients: 1 quart chicken stock (or veal stock or 3 bouillon cubes dissolved in 1 quart hot water); 3 tablespoons vinegar; 2 teaspoons salt; 1 box gelatine; ½ teaspoon red pepper; Green vegetable coloring; ¼ cup cold water

Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cucumber Aspic

Ingredients

1 quart chicken stock (or veal stock or 3 bouillon cubes dissolved in 1 quart hot water)
3 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1 box gelatine
½ teaspoon red pepper
Green vegetable coloring
¼ cup cold water

Directions

Moisten gelatine with ½ cup cold water and dissolve.
Mix stock, vinegar, salt, red pepper, grated vegetables, dissolved gelatine, and green coloring.
Pour mixture into a mold and refrigerate until firm.
Serve with mayonnaise on lettuce.

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.

Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,958 recipes

Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Chicken + vinegartop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,344 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).