Name: Carrots a LA Cyrano
Ingredients: tender young carrots; thick honey; olive oil; grated cheese; coarse sea salt

Why it works: Carrot and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,861 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Carrots a LA Cyrano

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Scrape and boil the carrots until tender.
Cut the carrots lengthwise in halves.
Dip the carrot halves in thick honey.
Place them in a baking dish with a thin layer of olive oil at the bottom.
Sprinkle generously with grated cheese and coarse sea salt.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 15 minutes until browned.

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.

Carrot + olivetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,861 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Honey + cheesetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together259 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
Olive + cheesetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,802 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Honey + olivetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,792 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Carrot + honeytop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together520 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).