Name: Vol-au-vent
Ingredients: 1 vol-au-vent case; equal quantities of sweetbread, forcemeat balls, and mushrooms; sliced truffles (optional); cockscombs (optional); thick brown sauce made of game; ⅓ cup sherry or madeira

Why it works: Mushroom and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Vol-au-vent

Ingredients

1 vol-au-vent case
equal quantities of sweetbread, forcemeat balls, and mushrooms
sliced truffles (optional)
cockscombs (optional)
thick brown sauce made of game
⅓ cup sherry or madeira

Directions

Prepare and bake a vol-au-vent case according to previous instructions.
Lift off the cover and dry the inside.
Fill the case with a financiere ragout made from sweetbread, forcemeat balls, mushrooms, truffles, and cockscombs.
Cover with thick brown sauce and add sherry or madeira.
Simmer gently for 3 minutes until heated throughout.
Optionally, place the cover back on top and serve.

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.

Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,900 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,176 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
Truffle + sherrytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together297 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Mushroom + saucetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,480 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Truffle + saucetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,490 recipes