Name: A Breakfast Dish
Ingredients: slices of cold fowl or cold veal or any other white meat; 1 beaten egg; cracker dust; butter or beef drippings; stale bread; parsley for garnish

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

A Breakfast Dish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

Cut slices from the breast of the cold fowl or veal.
Dip the meat slices in the beaten egg, then coat with cracker dust.

Prepare the bread

Cut stale bread in halves, dip quickly in cold water, then in beaten egg, and dust with cracker.

Fry and serve

Fry in butter or beef drippings until golden brown.
Fry the bread the same way as the meat.
Serve on the same or separate dishes, garnished with parsley.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,588 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Veal + breadtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,056 recipes

Shared aroma: cis-3-hexenol (green, grassy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beaten egg: Binds the cracker dust to the meat and bread so the coating stays on during frying.
Cracker dust: Forms a crisp, browned coating on the outside of the meat and bread.
Butter or beef drippings: Conducts heat for frying and adds richness and browning to the coating.
Stale bread: Provides a sturdy base that crisps on the outside while staying soft inside.