Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Marrow Pasty
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the minced beef, biscuit, citron, and chopped eggs in a bowl.
Season with nutmeg and cinnamon, then sweeten with sugar.
Sprinkle brandy over the mixture and combine well.
Line a dish with pastry, then fill it with the meat mixture.
Cover with more pastry, sealing the edges.
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.
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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Biscuit + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together368 recipes
Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).
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Biscuit + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together312 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + brandytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,199 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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